University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


EMPEROR  MONTEZUMA 


FERDINAND  CORTEZ 


EMPEROR  MAXIMILIAN 


PORFIRIO  DIAZ 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 


Including  a  Brief  History  of  Mexico  from 
the  Sixth  Century  to  the  Present  Time 


By 
Rev.  Thomas  B.   Gregory 


HEARST'S  INTERNATIONAL  LIBRARY  CO. 
NEW  YORK  1914 


Copyright,  1914,  by 
THE  STAR  Co. 


Copyright,  1914,  by 
HEARST'S  INTERNATIONAL  LIBRARY  Co. 


EARLY  HISTORY  OF  MEXICO 

THE  earliest  inhabitants  of  the  country 
now  called  Mexico  were  the  Toltecs,  a 
branch  of  the  Nahua  Nation,  the  origi- 
nal home  of  which  was  the  region  known  to 
them  by  the  name  of  Aztlan. 

Where  Aztlan  was  is  still  one  of  the  great 
unsolved  problems  of  the  students  of  early 
American  history.  It  may  have  been  located 
in  the  northern  portion  of  Mexico,  it  may 
have  been  in  what  is  now  New  Mexico,  it  may 
have  been  any  one  of  a  dozen  other  locali- 
ties; all  that  we  know  with  certainty  is  that 
it  was  northward  of  the  Valley  of  Mexico. 
The  balance  of  evidence  is  in  favor  of  the 
hypothesis  that  Aztlan  was  the  same  as  the 
present-day  New  Mexico. 

It  was  in  the  Sixth  Century  that  the 
Toltecs,  impelled  by  causes  that  are  un- 
known to  us,  left  Aztlan  and  planted  them- 

5 


^Conflicts 

selves  at  various  commanding  points  in  the 
territory  of  Anahuac,  the  ancient  name  of 
Mexico. 

Tollan,  the  present  Julu,  seems  to  have 
been  the  original  seat  and  center  of  the 
Toltec  power.  It  was  at  Tollan  that  the 
"  Serpent  Hill "  was  located,  a  point  about 
which  center  so  many  of  the  Toltec  legends 
and  traditions. 

It  was  about  the  year  1168,  according  to 
the  Codex  Ramirez,  that  the  Toltecs  aban- 
doned Tollan  and  planted  themselves  further 
south  in  the  Valley  of  Mexico,  and  in  1325 
Mexico  City  was  founded. 

It  was  probably  from  Aztlan  that  the 
name  of  Aztec  was  derived,  the  cognomen  by 
which  the  masters  of  the  beautiful  Valley 
of  Mexico  came  to  be  known. 

Ethnologically  the  Aztecs  belong  to  the 
"  Red  "  or  "  Indian  "  breed  of  men,  and  there 
is  much  to  show  that,  along  with  the  other 
branches  of  the  same  stock,  they  came  from 
Asia,  by  way  of  Bering  Strait,  and  gradually 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

worked  their  way  south  toward  this  final 
habitat  in  the  Land  of  the  Sun. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  learn  that  their 
capital,  Mexico  City,  called  by  them  Tenoch- 
titlan,  was  a  place  of  no  mean  proportions, 
having  some  three  hundred  houses  and  a  pop- 
ulation of  at  least  one  hundred  thousand. 
Should  there  seem  to  be  a  difficulty  about  the 
small  number  of  habitations  as  compared  with 
the  population,  it  may  be  said  that  the  houses 
were  very  large,  some  of  them  being  capable 
of  caring  for  a  large  number  of  people. 
When  the  Spaniards  took  the  city,  for  in- 
stance, their  entire  force,  four  hundred  and 
fifty  strong  and  a  thousand  Tlascalan 
allies,  were  all  accommodated  in  a  single 
dwelling. 

Politically,  the  Aztecs  were  a  Confederacy 
of  tribes,  dwelling  in  pueblos,  governed  by  a 
council  of  Chiefs,  and  collecting  tribute  from 
the  surrounding  regions.  Says  Fiske,  our 
very  highest  authority  on  the  subject:  "  What 
has  been  called  the  '  Empire  of  the  Monte- 

7 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

zumas '  was  in  reality  a  Confederacy  of  three 
tribes,  the  Aztecs,  Tezcucans  and  Tlacopans, 
dwelling  in  the  large  pueblos  situated  very 
close  together  in  one  of  the  strongest  defensive 
positions  ever  occupied  by  Indians." 

Continuing,  Fiske  assures  us  that  the  Aztec 
Confederacy  was  essentially  similar  to  the 
sway  of  the  Iroquois  Confederacy  over  a 
great  part  of  the  tribes  between  the  Connec- 
ticut River  and  the  Mississippi.  It  was  sim- 
ply the  levying  of  tribute — a  system  of  plun- 
der enforced  by  terror.  The  notion  of  an 
immense  population  groaning  under  the  lash 
of  taskmasters,  and  building  huge  "  palaces  " 
for  idle  despots  must  be  dismissed. 

In  civilization  the  Aztecs  belonged,  at  the 
time  of  the  Spanish  Conquest,  to  what  is 
known  as  the  "  Middle  Status  of  Barbarism ; 
one  stage  higher  than  the  Mohawks  and  one 
stage  lower  than  the  Warriors  of  the  Iliad." 
Instead  of  being,  as  Draper  claimed  for  them 
in  his  "  Intellectual  Development  of  Europe," 
the  moral  and  intellectual  superiors  of  the 

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Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

Europeans  of  the  Sixteenth  Century,  the 
Aztecs  were  still  well  within  the  confines  of 
Barbarism.  They  were  cannibals;  their  reli- 
gion, if  religion  it  may  be  called,  centered 
I  around  the  worst  form  of  human  sacrifice; 
and  in  political  science  they  had  advanced  no 
further  than  the  tribal  system  found  among 
the  Iroquois  at  the  date  of  the  arrival  of 
Columbus.  Says  Fiske:  "There  is  an  in- 
creasing disposition  among  scholars  to  agree 
that  the  Warriors  of  Anahuac  and  the  Shep- 
herds of  the  Andes,  were  just  simply  Indians, 
and  that  their  culture  was  no  less  indigenous 
than  that  of  the  Cherokees  or  Mohawks,"  and 
from  this  verdict  there  seems  to  be  no  way 
of  escape. 

It  was  in  the  memorable  year,  1519,  that 
the  Spaniard  Cortez  broke  into  the  Aztec 
Country.  There  is  nothing  in  the  literature 
of  pure  romance  to  equal  the  solid  facts  clus- 
tering around  the  expedition  of  Cortez.  With 
four  hundred  and  fifty  men  the  Spaniard  set 
out  from  Vera  Cruz  to  conquer  an  empire 

11 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

of  unknown  proportions  and  power, — and  he 
succeeded. 

Early  in  March,  1519,  Cortez  landed  at 
Tabasco,  found  the  natives  unfriendly,  de- 
feated them  in  a  sharp  skirmish,  seized  a  fresh 
stock  of  provisions,  and  proceeded  to  San 
Juan  de  Ulloa,  whence  he  sent  messengers  to 
Montezuma  with  gifts,  and  messages  as  from 
his  Sovereign,  Charles  V. 

Then,  after  scuttling  his  ships,  so  as  to 
make  retreat  impossible,  he  struck  out  from 
Vera  Cruz  for  the  City  of  Mexico.  His  lit- 
tle force  of  four  hundred  and  fifty  men,  six 
small  cannon  and  fifteen  horses,  might  well 
have  seemed  an  inadequate  machine  for  the 
Conquest  of  Mexico,  but  there  is  nothing  like 
courage  and  self-confidence,  and  in  those  mag- 
nificent qualities  Cortez  was  rich  above  most 
of  the  men  of  whom  we  have  any  knowledge. 

It  was  on  the  16th  of  August  that  Cortez 
started  from  Vera  Cruz  on  his  famous  march 
toward  the  Aztec  Capital.  Before  he  had 
penetrated  very  far  into  the  interior  he  was 

12 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

met  by  some  20,000  Tlascalans,  whom  he 
routed  without  much  effort,  and  then  bring- 
ing his  diplomacy  to  bear  upon  them  he  per- 
suaded the  Tlascalans  to  become  his  allies. 
His  further  advance  was  unchecked,  and  in 
due  time  he  arrived  in  sight  of  his  goal — the 
Capital  City  of  the  Montezumas. 

To  his  utter  astonishment  Cortez  was  re- 
ceived by  Montezuma  with  kindness  and  hos- 
pitality— a  reception  for  which  he  was  to 
return  a  strange  sort  of  reward.  The  first 
care  of  the  invader  was  to  fortify  himself  in 
one  of  the  "  palaces  "  of  the  King,  for  the  idea 
struck  him  that  he  was  in  great  danger,  not- 
withstanding the  cordiality  of  his  reception. 

More  and  more  impressed  with  this  convic- 
tion, he  conceived,  and  promptly  carried  out, 
one  of  the  most  daring  projects  revealed  in 
history.  Having  repaired  with  his  officers  to 
the  palace  of  Montezuma,  he  announced  to 
the  Sovereign  that  he  must  either  accompany 
him  or  perish.  Loaded  with  irons,  Monte- 
zuma was  made  to  acknowledge  himself  a  vas- 

13 


Our  Meoncan  Conflicts 

sal  of  the  Emperor  Charles  V.,  after  which 
he  was  restored  to  a  semblance  of  liberty,  but 
not  until  he  had  presented  the  conqueror  with 
600,000  marks  of  pure  gold,  and  a  prodigious 
quantity  of  precious  stones. 

Scarcely  had  this  audacious  business  been 
transacted  when  Cortez  learned  of  the  land- 
ing at  Vera  Cruz  of  a  Spanish  Army  under 
Narvaez,  which  had  been  sent  by  Velasquez 
to  compel  him  to  renounce  his  command. 
Leaving  two  hundred  men  in  the  City  of 
Mexico,  Cortez  marched  against  Narvaez,  de- 
feated him  and  made  him  a  prisoner. 

Enlisting  under  his  banner  the  men  who 
had  come  to  put  him  out  of  power,  Cortez 
set  out  on  his  return  journey  to  the  capital. 
Upon  his  arrival,  he  found  that  the  Mexicans 
had  revolted  against  their  sovereign  and  the 
Spaniards,  and  that  he  was  in  the  midst  of 
very  great  peril.  Montezuma  perished  in  the 
act  of  trying  to  pacify  his  revolted  subjects; 
a  new  Head  Man  was  chosen  by  the  revolu- 
tionists, and  the  Spaniards  were  furiously  at- 

14 


PRIEST  SACRIFICING  A  HUMAN  VICTIM  TO  THE 

SUN 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

tacked.  As  the  only  means  of  escaping  de- 
struction the  invaders  decided  to  retreat. 
During  the  retreat  their  rear-guard  was  badly 
cut  up,  and  for  six  days  they  suffered  severely 
at  the  hands  of  the  Mexicans,  who  pursued 
them  in  overwhelming  numbers. 

Elated  with  their  success,  the  Mexicans  of- 
fered battle  in  the  plain  of  Otumba.  This 
was  just  what  Cortez  wanted,  and  it  proved 
their  destruction.  Cortez  gave  the  signal  for 
battle  (it  was  on  the  7th  of  July,  1520)  and 
the  victory  that  he  gained  settled  the  fate 
of  Mexico. 

Immediately  after  his  triumph  at  Otumba, 
Cortez  marched  a  second  time  against  the 
City  of  Mexico,  which,  after  a  hard  struggle 
of  some  two  months,  was  retaken  on  the  13th 
of  August,  1521. 

Thus  ended  the  political  existence  of  the 
Aztec  Nation,  and  from  that  famous  Thir- 
teenth of  August,  1521,  Modern  Mexico  be- 
gins. With  that  date  the  native  history  of 
Mexico  abruptly  and  forever  ends. 

17 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

The  history  of  Spanish  Mexico — from  1521 
to  1821,  that  is,  from  the  conquest  of  the 
country  by  Cortez  to  the  recognition  by  Spain 
of  Mexican  independence — is  soon  told.  The 
Spanish  administration  was  marked  by  few 
stirring  events.  Warlike  expeditions  and  civil 
strifes  were  of  infrequent  occurrence.  "  New 
Spain,"  as  it  was  called,  was  simply  a  monop- 
oly that  was  worked  for  all  it  was  worth  for 
the  enrichment  of  the  privileged  classes  who 
squatted  down  upon  the  country  either  in  per- 
son or  by  proxy  in  the  shape  of  their  agents. 
The  Spanish  rule  was  easy,  apart  from  the 
greed  for  gold,  and  among  neither  the  Euro- 
pean stock,  the  Creoles,  nor  the  Indians  was 
there  for  a  long  period  any  sign  of  discontent. 

But  gradually  the  spirit  of  revolt  began 
to  show  itself,  and  the  long-smoldering  dis- 
content broke  out,  in  1810,  with  the  revolu- 
tion that  was  headed  by  Don  Miguel  Hidalgo. 
After  Hidalgo's  defeat  the  struggle  was  con- 
tinued by  Morelos.  Morelos  was  defeated  and 
executed  in  1815 — the  year  of  Waterloo — but 

18 


Our  Mecdcan  Conflicts 

a  guerilla  warfare  kept  the  revolutionary  feel- 
ing alive  till  a  fresh  stimulus  was  given  to  it 
by  the  Spanish  Revolution  of  1820.  Under 
the  leadership  of  the  "  Liberator  "  Iturbide, 
Mexican  independence  was  again  proclaimed 
on  February  24,  1821,  and  the  same  year  the 
capital  was  surrendered  by  O'Donaju,  the  last 
of  the  Viceroys. 

From  1821  to  1835  there  is  nothing  of  con- 
sequence to  relate.  In  the  latter  year  lots  of 
ginger  was  put  into  Mexican  history  by  the 
secession  of  Texas  and  the  Texan  fight  for 
independence ;  and  still  more  ginger  came  with 
the  war  between  Mexico  and  the  United 
States  in  1846-47,  but  inasmuch  as  these  mat- 
ters are  fully  dealt  with  elsewhere  in  this 
volume,  it  is  quite  unnecessary  to  dwell  upon 
them  here. 

Passing  over  these  affairs,  then,  the  history 
of  Mexico  may  be  resumed  at  the  very  inter- 
esting point  where  the  ill-fated  Austrian 
Archduke  Ferdinand  Maximilian  comes  upon 
the  stage. 

21 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

MAXIMILIAN  AND  JUAREZ 

Astrology  may  or  may  not  be  a  true  sci- 
ence, there  may  or  there  may  not  be  "  good  " 
and  "  evil "  stars,  but  if  there  are  then  surely 
Maximilian  was  born  under  the  worst  star 
that  ever  twinkled  over  one's  nativity.  And 
the  man's  life-story  is  all  the  more  tragic  from 
the  fact  that  he  was  in  no  way  responsible 
for  the  misfortune  that  came  upon  him. 

The  Mephisto  of  the  melancholy  episode 
was  the  "  Man  on  Horseback,"  Napoleon  the 
Third,  sometimes  called  "  Napoleon  the  Lit- 
tle "  to  distinguish  him  from  Napoleon  the 
Great.  The  roots  of  the  tree  of  history  reach 
far  back  into  the  past,  and  hence  the  fruitage 
of  to-day  often  draws  its  vitalizing  sap  from 
the  distant  years.  Napoleon  III  was  a 
Frenchman  of  the  Frenchmen,  a  thorough- 
going Latin,  with  all  of  the  Latin  predilec- 
tions and  reveries,  and  because  of  this  fact 
his  Majesty  was  fond  of  flirting  with  the 
fancy  of  a  Latin  Empire  in  Mexico,  to  off- 

22 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

set  the  influence  and  prestige  of  the  mighty 
Anglo-Saxon  Commonwealth  to  the  north  of 
it.  Were  not  the  French  beaten  by  the 
Anglo-Saxon  breed  in  the  dramatic  struggle 
for  supremacy  on  the  North  American  Con- 
tinent, and  would  it  not  be  a  fine  thing  now 
to  establish  a  Latin  dominion  on  that  same 
continent  ? 

"  It  would  be  a  charming  thing  to  do," 
thought  Napoleon,  "  and  now  is  the  time  to 
do  it.  The  Mexicans  are  up  to  their  necks  in 
revolution  and  the  United  States  has  the 
struggle  of  its  life  on  its  hands.  The  South 
will  put  nothing  in  my  way,  and  as  for  the 
North,  it  has  all  that  it  can  do  to  keep  the 
Southerners  from  beating  them  and  splitting 
the  nation  in  twain.  Now  is  my  time  to 
act." 

It  was  in  the  year  1862,  when  the  United 
States  was  in  the  midst  of  its  death  grapple 
with  the  veterans  of  Lee  and  Jackson,  that 
the  first  instalment  of  French  troops  were 
landed  on  Mexican  soil;  and  by  May  of  the 

23 


Our  Meocican  Conflicts 

following  year  (1863)  the  Emperor's  forces, 
under  Marshal  Bazaine,  were  ready  for  the 
march  to  Mexico  City.  On  the  fifth  of  June 
the  victorious  French  entered  the  capital,  and 
the  first  act  in  the  drama  was  successfully 
pulled  off. 

An  "  Assembly  of  Notables,"  made  up 
wholly  of  Napoleon's  creatures,  met  in  the 
city  and  voted  to  establish  a  "  limited  heredi- 
tary monarchy,  with  a  Roman  Catholic  Prince 
as  Emperor." 

Of  course,  the  whole  thing  had  been  "  in 
soak  "  for  months,  and  the  "  Emperor  "  had 
even  been  selected.  Such  being  the  case,  it 
was  not  strange  that  Maximilian,  when  in- 
vited to  accept  the  high  honor,  modestly  con- 
sented. Later  on,  he  was  met  by  the  deputa- 
tion at  Mirama  and  formally  offered  the 
crown.  He  decided  to  take  the  royal  bauble, 
and  on  May  29,  1864,  the  Emperor  and  Em- 
press landed  at  Vera  Cruz.  On  the  12th  of 
June  the  royal  pair  entered  the  City  of  Mex- 
ico, where  they  were,  with  all  due  ceremony, 

24 


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Our  Meocican  Conflicts 

installed  into  the  high  office  which   had   so 
unexpectedly  been  thrust  upon  them. 

But  Maximilian's  throne  rested  upon  the 
arms  of  France,  and  when  in  1866  the  French 
soldiers  were  removed,  he  found  himself  face 
to  face  with  Juarez,  the  purest  patriot  and 
greatest  man  that  appears  in  Mexican  history. 
Juarez,  though  a  full-blooded  Indian,  was  a 
man  of  extraordinary  intellectual  power,  a 
born  administrator  and  as  full  of  resources 
as  an  egg  is  of  meat.  Juarez  fought  Maxi- 
milian as  Hannibal  did  the  Romans,  but  with 
j  this  additional  result, — he  won  out.  The 
i  heroic  man,  in  the  midst  of  innumerable  diffi- 
culties, kept  up  the  fight,  and  finally,  after 
a  siege  of  sixty-seven  days'  duration,  recap- 
tured his  country's  Capital  city,  reinstituted 
the  Republic  and  earned  the  eternal  admira- 
tion not  only  of  all  patriotic  Mexicans  but 
of  the  lovers  of  fair  play  all  over  the  world. 

Almost  simultaneously  with  the  entry  of 
the  Patriot  forces  in  Mexico  City,  the  inno- 
cent cause  of  all  the  trouble,  the  Emperor 

27 


Our  Meccican  Conflicts 

Maximilian,  was  shot.  The  Emperor  died 
game,  as  was  most  becoming  to  him,  for  he 
was  as  fine  a  gentleman  as  ever  breathed. 
Pure  in  his  private  life,  generous  and  at  heart 
just  and  merciful,  he  deserved  a  happier 
death.  His  one  want  was  long-headedness. 
Had  he  possessed  the  far-sight  in  which  he 
was  so  deficient,  he  would  not  have  permitted 
himself  to  become  the  catspaw  of  the  design- 
ing French  Emperor.  The  true  wisdom 
would  have  told  him  that  the  business  must, 
of  necessity,  end  in  disaster  and,  in  all  proba- 
bility, in  death  for  himself  and  mourning  for . 
his  house. 

For  quite  apart  from  the  improbability  of 
his  being  able  to  hold  his  ground  against  the 
rank  and  file  of  an  incensed  people,  upon 
whom  he  was  thrust  by  a  foreign  will,  there 
was  the  United  States  to  be  reckoned  with,  a 
power  which,  he  might  have  known,  would 
never  permit  its  Monroe  Doctrine  to  be 
scouted  by  the  Crowned  heads  of  the  Old 
World. 

28 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

And  that  which  would  have  been  foreseen 
by  any  clear-headed  man  came  to  pass.  After 
wearing  out  the  matchless  valor  of  the  sol- 
diers of  the  South,  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment gave  Louis  Napoleon  clearly  to  un- 
derstand that  it  would  not  be  well  for  him 
to  longer  retain  his  soldiers  upon  Mexican 
soil,  and  taking  the  hint,  the  meaning  of 
which  he  fully  comprehended,  he  took  his 
troops  away — and  the  rest  followed  as  natu- 
rally and  inevitably  as  light  follows  sun- 
rise. The  Latin  Empire  fell  like  a  house  of 
cards,  and  the  dream  of  the  royal  visionary 
went  up  in  smoke. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  but  for 
the  War  between  the  States  the  Maximilian 
episode  would  never  have  gotten  into  history. 
It  would  have  "  died  a-borning  "  at  a  single 
stamp  of  Uncle  Sam's  foot.  As  it  was,  with 
a  struggle  for  our  very  national  life  upon 
our  hands,  we  were  obliged  to  wink  at  Napo- 
leon's iniquitous  project,  and  to  quietly  en- 
dure his  effrontery  until  such  time  as  we 

29 


Our  Meocican  Conflicts 

should  be  able  to  meet  him   with   effective 
arguments. 

But  all's  well  that  ends  well,  and  the  im- 
pudent and  most  unrighteous  scheme  of  Na- 
poleon resulted  finally  in  a  way  that  was 
grateful  to  gods  and  men.  The  "Man  on 
Horseback "  died  throneless  and  in  exile, 
after  being  forced  to  drink  deeply  of  the  cup 
of  humiliation,  and  his  empire  was  trans- 
formed, by  the  common  sense  of  the  French 
people,  into  a  Republic  that  promises  never 
again  to  be  duped  by  the  wearer  of  a  crown. 

Mexico  swung  back  to  Democracy,  arid  is 
now,  by  the  stern  logic  of  necessity,  rapidly 
approaching  the  time  when  she  will  be  a  part 
of  the  United  States  of  America,  under  whose 
just  and  benign  guidance  she  will  begin,  for 
the  first  time  in  her  history,  to  taste  of  the 
blessings  of  peace,  liberty,  and  true  progress. 
\  And  surely,  it  must  strike  everyone  as  be- 
ing a  most  excellent  idea,  that  the  history  of 
the  Land  of  the  Aztecs  should  end  with  an- 
nexation to  the  great  Republic  of  Washing- 

30 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

ton.  The  gloom  and  horrors  of  the  Canni- 
balistic Centuries  preceding  the  Spanish  Con- 
quest; the  even  greater  horrors  instituted  by 
Cortez,  and  his  robbers;  the  stagnation  of  the 
long  rule  under  the  Spanish  Viceroys;  the 
perpetual  agitation  prevailing  since  the  estab- 
lishment of  independence,  would  receive  their 
fitting  complement  and  fulfillment  in  physical 
and  political  union  with  the  mighty  people  of 
the  United  States. 


31 


Our  Last  War  With  Mexico 

and  the 
Present  Mexican  Question 


UNITED  STATES  JACKIES  FIGHTING  IN  VERA  CRUZ 


OUR  LAST  WAR  WITH  MEXICO 

How  It  Started,  How  It  Was  Fought,  What 
It  Cost  in  Lives  and  Money  and  What 
We  Gained  by  It 

THE  STORY  or  TEXAS 

I  AM   to   write   a   complete   story   of   the 
Mexican  War  of  1846-47 — its  causes,  con- 
duct and  results — a  true  and  faithful  ac- 
count of  the  things  that  led  up  to  it;  its  bat- 
tles and  battle-losses;   and  the  consequences 
of  the  memorable  conflict,  as  summed  up  in 
the   treaty   of   Guadalupe  Hidalgo;   so   that 
readers  may  have  a  thorough  understanding 
of  that  most  important  page  of  our  Ameri- 
can history. 

Let  it  be  understood,  however,  that  no 
intelligible  account  can  be  given  of  the  Mexi- 
can War  without  first  telling  the  story 

37 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

of  Texas.  It  was  largely  on  account  of 
Texas  that  the  United  States  had  its  bat- 
tle-clash with  Mexico,  and  the  Lone  Star 
State  must  first  of  all  receive  our  atten- 
tion. 

So  far  as  we  know,  the  first  white  man  to 
gaze  upon  the  broad  prairies  of  Texas  was 
the  Spaniard  Alonzo  Alvarez  de  Pinedo,  in 
the  year  1519.  Between  1540  and  1543 
Coronado  and  De  Soto  may  possibly  have 
visited  the  region,  but  the  earliest  attempt 
at  a  permanent  stay  was  not  made  until  1684, 
when  the  famous  La  Salle,  of  France,  ef- 
fected a  temporary  lodgment  near  what  is 
now  Matagorda  Bay. 

After  La  Salle's  "flash  in  the  pan," 
thirty-two  years  passed  before  the  Spaniards 
planted  themselves  at  San  Antonio  and  St. 
Miguel  de  los  Adalo.  But  these  so-called 
settlements  were  little  better  than  mission 
points,  and  when  President  Jefferson  pur- 
chased the  great  province  of  "  Louisiana " 
from  Napoleon  white  men  of  any  nationality 

38 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

were  few  and   far  between   from  Texas   to 
California. 

THE  TREATY  or  1819 

When  Jefferson  made  his  stupendous  real 
estate  deal  with  the  great  emperor  it  was  un- 
derstood by  the  United  States  authorities  that 
Texas  was  included  in  the  deal,  but,  after 
long  and  acrimonious  discussion,  the  United 
States,  in  1819,  in  the  treaty  by  which  it 
acquired  Florida,  ceded  to  Spain  and  re- 
nounced forever  its  "  rights,  claims  and  pre- 
tensions "  to  Texas. 

In  the  Fall  of  the  year  1820  Martinez, 
Governor  of  the  Province  of  Texas,  was 
greatly  surprised  and  shocked  when  a  Con- 
necticut Yankee  rode  into  San  Antonio  and 
coolly  requested  that  a  tract  of  land  be  given 
to  him  as  the  site  of  a  colony  of  Americans. 
The  Yankee  was  Moses  Austin,  the  "  Fa- 
ther of  Texas."  While  Austin  was  in  the 
midst  of  his  dickering  with  the  Royal  Gov- 
ernor, Mexico  suddenly  declared  its  inde- 

40 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

pendence  of  Spain,  and,  from  the  "  Em- 
peror "  Iturbide,  Austin  got  permission  to 
settle  with  his  brother  Americans. 

Slowly  the  Americans  began  to  drift 
across  the  border,  and  by  1835  they  num- 
bered approximately  15,000.  They  were  al- 
ways ready  to  obey  the  laws  which  they  them- 
selves had  made  and  which  they  understood, 
for  that  had  been  their  custom,  and  the  cus- 
tom of  their  fathers,  for  many  generations. 
But  there  was  one  thing  they  would  never 
submit  to — they  would  never  submit  to  a 
race  they  regarded  as  inferior.  They  were 
industrious  and  brave,  and  their  morality,  on 
the  whole,  stood  high.  "  The  political  con- 
ditions of  their  existence,"  says  Rives,  "  were 
already  difficult,  and  were  certain  to  be- 
come more  and  more  so,  as  the  disproportion 
increased  between  the  numbers  and  wealth 
of  the  colonists,  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  the 
Mexicans  on  the  other.  On  the  side  of  the 
Mexicans  was  legal  authority,  backed  by  the 
distant  government  in  the  City  of  Mexico; 

41 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

on  the  side  of  the  newcomers  were  industry, 
frugality,  intelligence,  courage.  The  strug- 
gle was  inevitable." 

THE  CLASH  INEVITABLE 

The  meeting  of  the  Mexican  Congress  in 
January,  1835,  helped  along  the  inevitable 
clash.  Barrazan,  a  servile  tool  of  the  un- 
scrupulous Santa  Anna,  was  declared  Presi- 
dent, with  power  to  make  any  constitutional 
changes  he  "  might  think  were  for  the  good 
of  the  people."  The  despot  proved  to  be 
the  prince  of  reactionists,  and  under  his  evil 
guidance  what  had  been  barely  endurable  be- 
came positively  unbearable. 

Immediately  the  men  of  American  blood 
resolved  to  rise  against  the  mock  government, 
and  on  November  7,  1835,  a  unanimous  dec- 
laration was  adopted  setting  forth  that  the 
people  of  Texas  had  taken  up  arms  in  de- 
fense of  their  rights  and  liberties  which  were 
"  threatened  by  encroachments  of  military 
despots,"  and  in  defense  of  the  "  repub- 

42 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

lican  principles "  of  the  Constitution  of 
1824. 

Of  course,  the  Central  Government  got 
busy  at  once,  a  Mexican  army  was  sent  into 
Texas,  its  commander,  Ramfrez,  receiving 
from  Santa  Anna  the  significant  hint :  "  YOU 
KNOW  THAT  IN  THIS  WAR  THERE 
ARE  NO  PRISONERS." 

The  battle  was  on,  and  there  was  about 
to  be  written  the  story  that  will  thrill  men's 
souls  forever! 

In  all  the  annals  of  all  the  ages  there  is 
no  name  more  glorious  than  that  of  the 
"  Alamo,"  a  name  that  is  forevermore  to  be 
the  watchword  of  lovers  of  liberty  the  world 
over  and  the  ages  through.  Human  valor  and 
courage  never  mounted  higher  than  they  did 
in  that  Alamo  fight,  and  in  the  very  fore- 
front of  the  real  heroes  of  history  will  al- 
ways stand  Crockett,  Travis,  Bowie  and  the 
less  known  but  equally  brave  men  who  died 
with  them  in  that  hallowed  pile. 

For  a  long  time  the  hundred  and  eighty 
43 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

Texans  held  their  own  against  the  four  thou- 
sand Mexicans.  Finally,  well-nigh  decimated, 
the  bleeding  remnant  consented  to  surren- 
der, "  upon  the  solemn  promise  that  they 
should  be  treated  according  to  the  usages  of 
civilized  warfare;  and  seeing,  after  they  had 
made  ready  to  lay  down  their  arms,  that 
the  agreement  was  not  to  be  kept,  they  fought 
till  they  died,  and  they  died  to  a  man. 

REMEMBER  THE  ALAMO! 

The  massacre  of  the  Alamo  only  put  fresh 
courage  into  the  hearts  of  the  Texans,  and 
with  "Remember  the  Alamo!"  as  their  slo- 
gan, they  met  Santa  Anna  and  his  Mexicans 
upon  the  immortal  field  of  San  Jacinto,  close 
by  the  present  enterprising  city  of  Houston, 
and  gave  them  the  worst  thrashing  that  any 
army  ever  received  on  a  battlefield. 

The  Texans,  under  grand  old  Sam  Hous- 
ton, numbered  eight  hundred,  the  Mexican 
force  being  about  twice  that  figure,  and  what 

44 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

happened  is  concisely  told  in  Houston's  re- 
port to  the  Governor  of  Texas:  "Mexican 
loss  six  hundred  and  thirty  killed,  two  hun- 
dred and  eight  wounded,  and  seven  hundred 
and  thirty  prisoners — against  a  Texan  loss  of 
two  killed  and  twenty-three  wounded." 

Notice  the  wonderful  disparity  between  the 
killed  and  wounded  on  the  Mexican  side — 
more  than  three  killed  to  one  wounded;  when 
the  ordinary  rule,  even  in  hotly  contested 
fights,  is  five  wounded  to  one  killed. 

Evidently  those  Texans  "  meant  busi- 
ness "  when  they  went  out  to  meet  Santa 
Anna  that  morning.  Nearly  every  Texan 
killed  his  man,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
wounded  and  prisoners.  Only  thirty-two  of 
the  sixteen  hundred  Mexicans  got  away. 

If  the  whole  story  of  war  is  able  to  show 
a  smarter  battle  than  the  Texans  put  up  at 
San  Jacinto,  will  someone  be  kind  enough  to 
point  out  the  time  and  place? 

San  Jacinto  made  Texas  a  free  Republic, 
and  the  "  Lone  Star  Flag "  took  its  place 

47 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

among  the  other  banners  of  the  independent 
nations. 

TEXAS  IN  THE  UNION 

It  was  already  "  manifest  destiny "  that 
Texas  was  to  become  a  part  of  the  United 
States,  a  member  of  the  great  political  sis- 
terhood to  which,  in  all  essential  ways,  she 
was  so  nearly  related. 

But  politics,  especially  that  part  of  it 
which  revolved  about  the  exciting  subject  of 
slavery,  kept  the  Texan  overtures  to  us  at 
arm's  end  for  a  long  time.  Almost  immedi- 
ately after  the  establishment  of  her  inde- 
pendence the  young  Republic  knocked  for 
admission  to  the  Union,  but  time  and  again 
the  door  refused  to  open. 

Finally,  however,  Congress,  ashamed  of  its 
delay,  invited  her  to  come  in,  and  on  Febru- 
ary 16,  1846,  J.  Pinckney  Henderson  was 
elected  Governor,  and  a  month  later  Sam 
Houston  and  Thomas  J.  Rusk  took  their 
seats  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 

48 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

It  was  a  prize  such  as  seldom  comes  to 
any  nation — a  magnificent  territory  57,000 
square  miles  larger  than  the  whole  German 
Empire,  larger  than  all  Europe,  with  Sweden, 
Norway,  Holland  and  Belgium  thrown  in; 
an  empire,  in  fact,  capable  with  its  mag- 
nificent resources  of  taking  care  of  a  popu- 
lation of  a  hundred  million  souls.  Germany 
already  has  68,000,000,  and  Texas  is  richer 
than  Germany. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  Mexico  got  wrathy 
over  what  she  considered  the  theft  of  her 
splendid  province.  It  was  quite  human  and 
natural  that  she  should  have  done  so. 

It  would  be  a  crime  to  close  this  chapter 
without  calling  the  reader's  attention  to  the 
far-sighted  wisdom  and  rock-ribbed  patri- 
otism of  President  Polk.  Polk  has  been 
placed  by  some  of  our  historians  among  the 
small-caliber  Presidents,  and  in  brilliancy 
of  intellect  and  dashing  characteristics  in  gen- 
eral he  was  undoubtedly  unworthy  of  com- 
parison with  some  of  the  other  men  who  have 

49 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

sat  in  the  Presidential  Chair;  but  in  a  quiet 
way  he  was  as  great  as  any  of  them — a  man, 
in  fact,  of  the  most  heroic  mold. 

As  his  secretary  Buchanan  kept  at  our 
Minister,  John  Slidell,  to  buy  the  disputed 
Texan  territory,  and  not  to  forget  to  offer 
big  inducements  for  the  sale  to  us  of  Cali- 
fornia. He  caused  Slidell  to  be  informed 
that  money  was  no  object,  and  that  if  we 
could  do  no  better  we  would  willingly  pay 
$25,000,000  for  California  alone. 

Not  without  foundation  was  Folk's  anxiety. 
Great  Britain  was  moving  heaven  and  earth 
to  get  hold  of  California,  and  the  disputed 
region  in  Texas  as  well.  Our  envoy  was  ac- 
cordingly informed  that  he  must  exert  him- 
self to  the  utmost  to  checkmate  England, 
and  that  the  United  States  must  have 
the  territory  no  matter  what  the  price 
was. 

The  supreme  importance  of  Folk's  anx- 
iety, and  the  efforts  born  of  that  anxiety, 
may  be  seen  at  a  glance.  Great  Britain  was 

50 


fc 
o 

H 

02 

I 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

eager  to  recoup  herself  for  the  loss  of  the 
Atlantic  seaboard  by  getting  the  Pacific 
Coast ;  and,  but  for  the  tireless  work  of  Polk, 
she  would  have  succeeded.  In  that  case  we 
would  have  been  forever  blocked  from  the 
West,  except  at  the  cost  of  a  bloody  and  ex- 
pensive war. 

That  we  are  to-day  the  owners  of  the 
Pacific  Seaboard  is  a  fact  that  we  owe  to 
James  K.  Polk.  The  acquisition  of  the  cov- 
eted territory  was  the  pivot  upon  which  his 
whole  policy  turned,  and  he  rested  not  until 
he  had  achieved  his  high  and  worthy  am- 
bition. 

Mr.  Buchanan,  a  pure  patriot  and  most 
excellent  gentleman,  was  timid  to  the  verge 
of  cowardice,  and  withal,  was  a  great  stickler 
for  peace,  and  if  the  matter  had  been  left 
to  him  Great  Britain  would  have  obtained 
both  Oregon  and  California,  but  Polk— 
called  by  the  brilliant  Whig  orator,  S.  S. 
Prentiss,  "  a  blighted  burr,  fallen  from  the 
mane  of  the  War-horse  of  the  Hermitage  "•— 

53 


Our  Meocican  Conflicts 

saved  the  day,  and,  we  may  almost  say,  saved 
the  Nation. 

Mr,  Prentiss  was  the  most  gifted  orator 
that  this  country  has  ever  produced,  but  he 
died,  and  his  speeches  died  with  him,  and  if 
he  ever  did  anything  permanently  great  it 
has  never  been  discovered;  but  the  "burr" 
blocked  the  mightiest  nation  at  that  time  on 
earth,  and  our  hereditary  political  foe,  in  the 
attempt  to  keep  us  forever  away  from  the 
shores  of  the  Great  Western  Sea. 

CAUSES  OF  1846-47  CONFLICT 

I  will  set  forth  the  causes,  occult  and  other- 
wise, that  led  up  to  the  Mexican  War  of 
1846-47.  Like  everything  else  that  happens 
in  the  world,  that  momentous  struggle  came 
about  because  of  certain  other  things  that 
had  happened  before  it,  and  without  which 
it  would  never  have  taken  place. 

In  the  enumeration  of  the  propelling 
causes  of  the  war  must  come,  first  of  all, 

54 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

the  fact  of  the  difference  of  race,  the  irre- 
pressible opposition  of  breed,  the  uncom- 
promising friction  that  has  always  and  every- 
where existed  between  the  independent,  pro- 
gressive, self-reliant  Saxon  and  the  docile, 
reactionary  Latin. 

Occupying  the  same  continent,  with  noth- 
ing but  an  imaginary  line,  or  a  narrow 
stream,  between  them,  it  was  inevitable  that 
there  should  be  misunderstandings,  disagree- 
ments, clashing  convictions — in  a  word,  all 
sorts  of  trouble. 

Here,  then,  in  this  basic  fact  of  BREED 
we  have  the  primary  cause  of  the  Mexican 
War.  It  made  trouble  from  the  start,  it 
is  making  trouble  to-day,  and  it  will  keep 
on  making  trouble  until,  in  the  "  struggle 
for  life,"  the  "fittest"  holds  the  helm  and 
guides  the  ship. 

Just  now  it  was  intimated  that  among  the 
other  differences  between  the  Saxon  and  the 
Latin  was  the  MORAL  one;  and  it  was  in 
this  difference  that  we  are  to  find  another 

55 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

of   the    causes   that   brought   on   our   armed 
conflict  with  Mexico. 


A  WICKED,  UNJUST  NEIGHBOR 

The  population  of  Mexico  in  1846  was,  ap- 
proximately, 8,000,000,  and  of  the  8,000,000 
at  least  85  per  cent  were  peons  and  half- 
breeds  of  various  descriptions,  without  social 
standing  or  political  influence,  mere  human 
nondescripts,  leaving  the  Government  and  its 
policies  to  be  shaped  by  the  million  or  so  of 
pure  Latins,  and  what  those  policies  were  is 
well  known  to  all  men. 

Mexico  had  from  the  beginning  proven  it- 
self to  be  an  unjust  and  wicked  neighbor. 
It  was  such  under  the  imperial  government 
of  the  Mother  Country;  it  was  even  worse 
under  its  own  so-called  republican  rule. 

Always  fighting  among  themselves,  they 
were  always  impoverished,  and  they  did  not 
hesitate  to  replenish  their  ever-depleted  treas- 
ury by  plundering  American  vessels  in  the 

56 


THE  DEFENSE  OF  THE  ALAMO 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

Gulf  of  Mexico  or  wherever  else  they  could 
find  them,  and  by  confiscating  the  property 
of  American  merchants  within  its  borders. 

Robberies  were  frequent.  Brigandage  was 
of  common  occurrence.  The  murder  of 
American  citizens  living  in  the  country,  or 
of  Americans  journeying  through  it,  was 
a  matter  that  provoked  slight  comment  by 
the  authorities  or  the  people. 

The  United  States  Government  remon- 
strated, but  remonstrated  in  vain.  The  rob- 
bery, murder  and  confiscation  went  right  on 
regardless  of  the  protests  of  our  Govern- 
ment. In  1831  a  treaty  was  made  between 
the  two  countries,  and  promises  of  redress 
were  given,  but  the  pledged  faith  of  Mex- 
ico was  never  fulfilled. 

By  1845  the  aggregate  value  of  property 
belonging  to  Americans  that  had  been  ap- 
propriated by  the  Mexicans  amounted  to  over 
seven  millions  of  dollars.  This  claim  was 
still  unsatisfied  when  the  annexation  of  Texas 
took  place  in  the  above-mentioned  year. 

59 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

TEXAS  IN;  MEXICO  FRANTIC 

The  annexation  of  Texas!  Here  we  have 
one  of  the  big  causes  of  the  war  with  our 
Southern  neighbor.  When  Texas  joined  the 
Union,  Mexico  became  frantic.  It  is  true 
Texas,  driven  to  desperation  by  Mexican 
atrocities  and  Mexican  misrule  in  general, 
had  appealed  to  the  arbitrament  of  arms,  and 
in  a  fair  fight  had  won  her  independence, 
and  along  with  it  the  right  to  remain  inde- 
pendent or  cast  her  lot  with  the  sisterhood 
of  American  States ;  but  Mexico  did  not  seem 
to  realize  the  fact;  and  her  action  was  like 
that  of  a  very  bad  and  very  foolish  child. 

Of  course,  events  moved  on  quite  regard- 
less of  the  Mexican  quibbling,  and  the  Rio 
Grande  and  not  the  Nueces  was  decided  to 
be  the  Lone  Star  State's  western  boundary. 

Still,  like  the  bad,  foolish  child  that  she 
was,  Mexico  refused  to  recognize  either  the 
independence  of  Texas  or  its  annexation  to 
the  United  States;  and  to  make  matters  still 

60 


Our  Meocican  Conflicts 

worse  offered  a  direct  affront  to  our  Gov- 
ernment by  refusing  to  receive  its  envoy, 
John  Slidell.  Arriving  in  the  City  of  Mex- 
ico on  the  6th  of  December,  1845,  Slidell 
wrote  the  usual  formal  note  to  the  Mexican 
Minister  of  Foreign  Relations,  inclosing  a 
copy  of  his  credentials,  and  asking  that  a 
date  might  be  fixed  at  which  he  might  be 
received  by  the  President. 

To  this  very  proper  action  on  the  part  of 
Slidell  the  sequel  came  in  the  shape  of  a 
letter  from  the  Minister  which  read  as  fol- 
lows: "The  Supreme  Government  is  ad- 
vised that  the  agreement  which  it  entered 
into  to  admit  a  plenipotentiary  of  the  United 
States  with  special  powers  to  treat  of  the 
affairs  of  Texas  does  not  compel  it  to  receive 
an  envoy  extraordinary  and  minister  pleni- 
potentiary to  reside  near  the  Government, 
in  which  character  Mr.  Slidell  comes  accord- 
ing to  his  credentials." 


61 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

ASKED  FOR  His  PASSPORTS 

The  action  of  the  Mexican  Government  in 
refusing  to  receive  the  American  Minister 
ended,  of  course,  all  further  discussion;  and, 
as  there  was  nothing  else  for  Slidell  to  do,  he 
asked  for  his  passports,  and  returned  home, 
to  report  to  the  President  the  supreme  in- 
dignity that  had  been  offered  his  nation. 

The  foregoing  facts  are  sufficient  of  them- 
selves to  explain  the  reason  of  our  war  with 
Mexico  in  1846-47. 

But  there  is  another  fact  to  be  taken  into 
consideration— the  fact  to  which  we  have  very 
properly  given  the  name  of  "  MANIFEST 
DESTINY." 

That  self-preservation  is  the  first  law  of 

<^ 

life  holds  for  nations  even  to  a  greater  ex- 
tent than  it  does  for  individuals. 

Now,  in  1846,  this  nation  needed  to  expand. 
A  law  rigid  as  gravity,  and  high  above  all 
the  considerations  of  what  may  well  be  called 
the  minor  moralities,  was  urging  the  Ameri- 

62 


H 
o 

1-5 


Our  Meocican  Conflicts 

can  people  to  grow.  To  the  west  of  them 
and  to  the  southwest  lay  a  mighty  region  that 
was  almost  wholly  given  up  to  silence  and 
solitude,  the  inaction  and  unproductivity  of 
the  primeval  wilderness.  A  few  small  tribes 
of  wild  men,  a  few  missions,  here  and  there 
a  scant  settlement  of  Mexicans,  made  up  the 
human  content  of  a  splendid  region  almost 
a  third  the  size  of  Europe. 

Why  should  it  not  be  turned  to  the  serv- 
ice of  man?  Why  should  it  not  be  made  the 
instrument  of  human  civilization  and  prog- 
ress? The  government  under  whose  sover- 
eignty it  had  been  for  generations  and  ages 
was  making  no  use  of  it — why  not  let  those 
have  it  who  would  make  use  of  it? 

Not  only  so,  but  the  future — the  twentieth 
century,  the  twenty-fifth  century — was  call- 
ing to  us  to  provide  for  the  PHYSICAL 
SOLIDARITY  of  the  nation,  to  make  its 
boundary  line  coincide  with  the  dictates  of 
reason  and  necessity,  as  well  as  of  the  un- 
mistakable hints  of  nature  itself. 

65 


Our  Meodcan  Conflicts 

And  so,  the  fiat  went  forth,  and  the  deed 
was  done.  That  it  was  a  wicked  deed,  a 
deed  that  clashed  with  the  larger  moralities, 
remains  to  be  proven. 

UNPREPAREDNESS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARMY 

On  the  24th  day  of  April,  1846,  the  Mexi- 
can General  Torre j  on,  with  a  considerable 
body  of  infantry  and  cavalry,  crossed  the 
Rio  Grande  and  on  the  following  day  came 
upon  a  scouting  party  of  twenty-six  Ameri- 
can dragoons  under  Captain  Thornton,  who 
after  a  short  skirmish  were  surrounded  and 
captured.  The  American  casualties  were  six- 
teen killed  and  wounded. 

The  first  blood  of  the  Mexican  War  was 
shed,  and  it  was  up  to  the  United  States 
to  do  the  rest. 

Our  country  was  in  a  state  of  utter  un- 
preparedness — no  more  ready  to  begin  a  war 
than  it  was  to  begin  a  trip  to  the  moon.  The 
regular  army  was  hopelessly  inadequate  in 

66 


ZACHAEY  TAYLOR 


Our  Meocican  Conflicts 

numbers,  the  whole  force  on  paper  being  but 
8,616,  the  total  number  "  present  for  duty  " 
being  only  643  commissioned  officers  and 
5,612  non-commissioned  officers,  musicians, 
artificers  and  privates — an  aggregate  of  a 
little  over  six  thousand. 

$10,000,000;   50,000  MEN 

There  was  no  plan  of  campaign.  Congress 
voted  $10,000,000  and  50,000  men,  but  no- 
body in  the  Cabinet  or  in  the  field  seemed  to 
have  the  least  idea  of  how  the  money  and  the 
men  were  to  be  used. 

General  Taylor,  in  command  of  the  "  Army 
of  Occupation,"  with  headquarters  at  Point 
Isabel,  did  not  have  much  time  to  study  the 
"  rough  diagram."  The  Mexicans,  flushed 
by  Torre jon's  victory  over  the  little  squad 
of  scouts,  pressed  ahead,  and  on  the  5th  of 
May  attacked  the  American  garrison  at  Fort 
Brown. 

The  cannonade  of  the  fort  was  almost 
69 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

incessant  for  one  hundred  and  sixty  hours, 
but  the  Americans  stood  by  their  guns 
and  refused  every  summons  to  surrender. 
Suddenly,  about  noon  of  the  8th,  they  heard 
the  sound  of  cannon  in  the  direction  of  Point 
Isabel.  General  Taylor  was  marching  to 
their  succor.  He  had  met  the  enemy  and 
the  battle  of  Palo  Alto  was  in  full  swing. 

Palo  Alto  (meaning  "  Tall  Timber")  saw 
some  tall  fighting  by  Taylor  and  his  little 
army.  General  Taylor's  force  was  twenty- 
one  hundred  strong,  and  against  him  were 
eight  thousand  five  hundred  of  the  enemy 
under  General  Arista.  From  all  accounts, 
Palo  Alto  presented  an  imposing  and  bril- 
liant scene,  a  broad,  almost  level,  prairie, 
without  a  sod  turned,  or  a  fence  or  a  wall 
for  shelter,  the  opposing  armies  being  face 
to  face  with  each  other  for  a  fair,  square, 
stand-up  fight. 

For  five  hours  the  hotly  contested  struggle 
went  on.  Outnumbered  to  the  tune  of  four 
to  one,  the  day  many  times  looked  dark  for 

70 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

the  Americans;  but  their  superior  fighting 
qualities  and  intelligence  finally  gave  them 
the  victory,  and  Arista,  beaten  at  every  point, 
retired  from  the  field. 

THE  FIRST  CASUALTIES 

The  losses  in  the  battle  of  Palo  Alto 
were:  American,  nine  killed  and  forty-four 
wounded;  Mexican,  two  hundred  and  fifty- 
two  killed  and  wounded — five  times  that  of 
the  American  casualties.  It  may  be  said  in 
passing  that  the  casualty  list  of  Palo  Alto, 
which  will  be  found  to  be  similar  in  char- 
acter throughout  the  story  of  the  war,  while 
it  speaks  well  for  the  courage  of  the  Mexi- 
cans, is  a  very  poor  compliment  to  their  in- 
telligence. They  were  brave,  oftentimes  des- 
perately, foolishly  brave,  but  they  did  not 
know  how  to  aim.  They  lacked  the  coolness, 
self-possession  and  sense  of  their  American 
opponents. 

At  dawn  on  the  morning  of  the  9th  of 
May,  Arista  fell  back  some  five  miles  to  a 

71 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

strong  position  known  as  Resaca  de  la  Palmi 
Taylor's  army  had  been  put  in  motion  as  sooi 
as  the  retreat  of  the  Mexicans  was  observed, 
and  about  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  he 
came  up  with  them,  badly  disorganized  and 
without  the  least  idea  that  they  were  to  be 
attacked  that  day. 

But  "  Old  Rough  and  Ready's  "  blood 
up,  and  he  sent  his  men  in  at  once.    Advan< 
ing  through  the  chaparral,  they  charged  upoi 
the  Mexican  line  and  soon  had  it  broken  u] 
into    little    groups    without    a    semblance    ol 
order.      The   Mexican   right   maintained   th< 
struggle  for  a  while,  supported  by  several  bat- 
teries of  artillery;  but  the  memorable  cavalr; 
charge  by  Captain  May  soon  put  the  artil- 
lery   out    of    business,    and    the    work    was 
finished. 

THE  MEMORABLE  CHARGE 

May's  charge  is  worthy  of  being  retold,  11 
the  words  of  an  eye-witness,  the  gallant  Lieu- 
tenant Ridgely: 

72 


M 

t 


H 

CD 


w 

O 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

"Riding  up  to  my  guns  May  shouted: 
'Where  are  they?  I'm  going  to  charge.'  I 
replied :  '  Hold  on,  Charley,  till  I  draw  their 
fire/  I  gave  them  a  volley,  arid  May  dashed 
forward  in  column  of  fours,  at  the  head  of 
his  squadron. 

"  Storming  right  up  to  the  breastworks  in 
front  of  the  guns,  May  leaped  his  horse  over 
them,  knocked  the  gunners  from  their  pieces, 
and,  riding  up  to  the  commanding  officer, 
who  was  in  the  act  of  reloading  a  gun  with 
his  own  hands,  summoned  him  to  surrender. 
La  Vega  yielded  his  sword  and  was  sent 
into  the  American  lines.  Captain  May's 
charge  is  still  reckoned  among  the  most 
daring  and  brilliant  deeds  of  the 


war." 


The  American  strength  at  Resaca  de  la 
Palma  (actually  engaged)  was  seventeen 
hundred;  that  of  the  Mexicans  exceeded  six 
thousand.  The  American  loss  in  the  battle 
was  39  killed  and  82  wounded.  The  Mexi- 
cans lost  in  killed  262,  wounded  355,  missing 

75 


Our  Meocican  Conflicts 

185,  total  802 — between  six  and  seven  times 
the  American  loss. 

The  Mexican  retreat  soon  turned  into  a 
panic.  The  infantry  threw  away  their  cloaks, 
muskets  and  cartridge  boxes  to  speed  their 
flight.  The  horsemen  urged  on  their  jaded 
steeds  regardless  of  the  fallen,  till  they  fell 
themselves,  exhausted,  on  the  road. 

The  battles  of  Palo  Alto  and  Resaca  de  la 
Palma  staggered  Mexico. 

ON  TO  CALIFORNIA 

In  accordance  with  the  plan  of  campaign 
adopted  by  the  Administration,  the  fifty  thou- 
sand men  authorized  by  Congress  were  as- 
signed to  three  divisions,  the  "  Army  of  Oc- 
cupation," under  Major-General  Taylor;  the 
"  Army  of  the  Center,"  under  Brigadier-Gen- 
eral Wool,  and  the  "Army  of  the  West," 
commanded  by  Brigadier-General  Stephen 
W.  Kearny.  This  last  division  was  ordered 
to  march  to  Santa  Fe,  seize  upon  the  terri- 

76 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

tory  of  New  Mexico  and  then  push  on  west- 
ward to  occupy  California. 

The  "  army  "  to  which  such  a  tremendous 
task  had  been  committed  numbered  only 
1,658  men  and  sixteen  pieces  of  artillery. 
Starting  out  from  its  rendezvous  at  Fort 
Leaven  worth  on  the  26th  of  June,  1846, 
on  the  long  march  of  more  than  two  thou- 
sand miles,  they  reached  Santa  Fe  August 
18  and  took  possession  of  the  ancient  city 
without  the  loss  of  a  man.  The  American 
flag  was  run  up  to  the  top  of  a  pole  one 
hundred  feet  high,  given  the  national  salute 
of  twenty-eight  guns — and  New  Mexico  was 
ours. 

Twice  on  their  way  to  Santa  Fe  the  Ameri- 
cans thought  they  were  going  to  have  the 
excitement  of  battle,  but  were  disappointed. 
At  Las  Vegas  2,000  Mexicans  lay  across  their 
path,  but  when  Kearny  was  about  ready 
to  attack  them  the  Mexicans  fled. 

Again  the  disappointment  came.  From 
the  Gallisteo  Canyon,  Don  Manuel  Armejo, 

77 


Our  Meocican  Conflicts 

Mexican  Governor  of  New  Mexico,  sent 
Kearny  word  that  he  was  ready  for  him 
with  7,000  men,  and  that  if  he  would  come 
on  he  would  give  him  all  the  fight  he  wanted. 
The  American  accepted  the  invitation  and 
kept  on  to  the  canyon,  but  Armejo  and  his 
Mexicans  were  not  there. 

And  now  the  Army  of  the  West  was  to 
be  divided.  Colonel  Doniphan,  in  command 
of  all  the  forces  of  New  Mexico,  was  to 
march  southward  into  Chihuahua,  while 
Kearny,  with  such  force  as  he  could  mus- 
ter, was  to  proceed  to  the  shores  of  the  Pa- 
cific and  capture  California. 

Kearny  left  Santa  Fe  September  25  on 
his  march  of  eleven  hundred  miles  to  San 
Francisco,  his  force  consisting  of  300  men 
and  provisions  for  sixty-five  days.  On  the 
6th  of  October  he  met  a  party  led  by  Kit 
Carson,  who  informed  him  that  he  was  the 
bearer  of  dispatches  to  Washington  announc- 
ing the  occupation  of  California  by  the 
Americans. 

78 


JAMES  K.  POLK 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

Commodores  Sloat  and  Stockton,  aided  by 
a  handful  of  American  emigrants,  had  al- 
ready taken  California,  and  General  Kearny, 
returning  with  Carson  as  a  guide,  co-operated 
with  the  naval  forces  in  strengthening  the  oc- 
cupation which  had  been  so  nicely  begun. 

And  now  for  Doniphan  and  Chihuahua. 
The  redoubtable  colonel,  with  a  force  of  1,000 
men  and  ten  pieces  of  artillery,  set  out  on 
his  long  march  December  14.  On  Christmas 
Day  he  found  himself  "  up  against "  the 
equally  redoubtable  General  Ponce  de  Leon. 

THE  DESERT  MARCH 

Doniphan  attack  1,  and  in  sixty  minutes' 
time  the  enemy  was  beaten,  with  a  loss  of  75 
killed  and  150  wounded.  Doniphan's  loss 
was  eight  men  wounded,  none  killed. 

From  Bracito  Doniphan  passed  over  into 
the  Province  of  Chihuahua,  and  after  his 
ever-memorable  "  Desert  March,"  which  al- 
most deserves  to  rank  with  that  of  Xenophon 

81 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

and  his  ten  thousand  Greeks,  found  himself 
face  to  face  with  the  enemy. 

At  Sacramento  were  4,300  Mexican  regu- 
lars under  General  Jose  A.  Heredia.  Heredia 
was  so  confident  that  he  had  provided 
ropes  and  handcuffs  for  the  American  pris- 
oners. 

Doniphan  did  not  give  his  foe  much  time 
for  jubilation,  but  pitched  into  him  with  all 
his  might,  with  the  result  that  the  Mexicans 
were  routed  along  the  whole  line.  For  three 
hours  the  volunteer  soldiers  of  Doniphan, 
1,100  strong,  engaged  four  times  their  num- 
ber behind  well  constructed  intrenchments, 
and  put  them  to  rout.  This  smart  battle  oc- 
curred February  27,  1847. 

The  Mexican  loss  was  320  men  killed,  560 
wounded  and  72  made  prisoners,  against  an 
American  loss  of  1  officer  killed  and  11  men 
wounded. 

The  beautiful  province  was  now  virtually 
in  possession  of  the  Americans,  and  by  the 
same  logic  that  we  held  New  Mexico  and 

82 


H 
H 
O 
O 
03 

fl 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

California    we    were    entitled    to    have    held 
Chihuahua. 

CROSSING  THE  Rio  GRANDE 

The  course  of  events  now  brings  us  back 
to  the  East.  General  Taylor  crossed  the  Rio 
Grande  and  took  possession  of  Matamoras  on 
the  18th  of  May,  1846,  and  all  preparations 
being  ready,  he  set  out,  late  in  August,  for 
the  City  of  Monterey,  a  strong  place  one 
hundred  and  eighty  miles  in  the  interior  of 
Mexico. 

It  is  hardly  fair  to  say  that  Monterey  was 
"  strong."  It  was  a  veritable  Gibraltar,  gar- 
risoned by  9,000  regulars;  and  to  make  mat- 
ters worse  the  American  army  was  without 
heavy  artillery.  It  was  decided  to  attempt 
the  capture  of  the  place  by  assault  at  the 
point  of  the  bayonet.  The  roll  sounded  at 
dawn  of  the  21st  of  September. 

From  wall  to  wall,  from  street  to  street, 
from  house  to  house,  the  6,000  Americans, 
approaching  from  opposite  sides,  fought  their 

85 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

way  in  toward  the  center  of  the  city;  and 
seeing  they  would  not  be  denied,  the  Mexi- 
can commander,  Ampudia,  on  the  23rd,  sur- 
rendered. 

The  American  losses  at  Monterey  were 
heavy,  being  over  500  in  killed  and  wounded. 
The  Mexican  loss  was  about  1,000. 

The  work  of  Doniphan  and  Taylor  had  ~by 
this  time  given  all  Northern  Mexico  into  the 
hands  of  the  Americans. 

Just  as  General  Taylor  was  about  to  com- 
mence another  campaign,  General  Scott  or- 
dered him,  by  special  messenger,  to  send  a 
large  part  of  his  army  to  assist  in  the  siege 
of  Vera  Cruz.  By  this  order,  which,  soldier- 
like, he  promptly  obeyed,  Taylor  was  left 
with  only  about  5,000  men,  to  act  on  the  de- 
fensive against  20,000  Mexicans,  then  gath- 
ering at  San  Luis  Potosi  under  General  Santa 
Anna. 

Hearing  that  he  was  about  to  be  attacked 
by  this  overwhelming  force,  Taylor  fell  back 

86 


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W 

Hi 

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CO 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

from  Saltillo  to  Angostura,  near  the  little 
village  of  Buena  Vista. 

Santa  Anna,  with  his  finely  equipped  army 
of  20,000  infantry,  cavalry  and  artillery,  left 
Encarnacion  February  21,  1847,  and  the  next 
day  came  up  with  the  Americans  at  Buena 
Vista. 

The  battle  began,  and  the  result  speaks 
for  itself — Mexican  loss,  2,500  in  killed  and 
wounded  and  4,000  missing;  American  loss, 
264  killed,  450  wounded. 

VERA  CRUZ,  CHAPULTEPEC  AND  MEXICO 
CITY 

General  Scott  arrived  off  Vera  Cruz  with 
the  larger  part  of  the  forces  assigned  to  him, 
on  the  9th  of  March,  1847,  just  two  weeks 
after  Taylor's  brilliant  victory  at  Buena 
Vista.  He  had  about  12,000  troops,  includ- 
ing the  divisions  of  Generals  Worth,  Twiggs, 
Quitman  and  Pillow. 

The  City  of  Vera  Cruz  at  the  time  con- 
89 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

tained  a  thousand  houses  and  seven  thousand 
inhabitants.  The  houses  were  built  of  stone, 
two  stories  high,  with  flat  roofs  and  parapets. 
It  was  situated  on  a  dry  plain,  behind  which 
rose  sand  hills,  cut  up  with  many  ravines  and 
covered  with  clusters  of  thick  chaparral. 

The  city  was  entirely  surrounded  by  a  mas- 
sive stone  wall,  two  and  a  half  miles  in  cir- 
cumference. On  this  wall  there  were  nine  bas- 
tions, mounting  one  hundred  guns.  Another 
hundred  guns  and  mortars  were  in  the  city 
and  in  the  defenses  outside  of  the  wall. 

Within  the  walls  were  five  thousand  troops, 
besides  the  citizens,  most  of  whom  were  well 
armed.  On  an  island  about  a  mile  in  front 
of  the  city  was  the  famous  stone  castle  of 
San  Juan  d'Ulloa,  built  by  the  Spaniards  in 
1582,  and  the  foundations  of  whose  walls, 
laid  deep  in  the  sea,  had  enabled  it  to  with- 
stand the  waves  and  storms  of  three 
centuries. 


90 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

THE  SURRENDER  TO  SCOTT 

The  American  line  of  investment  was  com- 
pleted by  the  12th,  and  each  division  and  regi- 
ment was  given  its  place.  Immediately  the 
battle  opened  from  both  sides.  The  cannonad- 
ing was  practically  incessant,  the  Americans 
steadily  getting  the  better  of  it,  and  on  the 
26th,  as  Scott  was  about  to  order  the  final 
assault,  General  Morales  informed  him  that 
he  was  ready  to  surrender. 

On  the  next  day  the  articles  of  capitulation 
were  drawn  up  and  signed,  and  General  Scott 
sent  on  to  Washington  his  historic  dispatch: 
"  The  flag  of  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica now  floats  triumphantly  over  the  walls 
of  this  city  and  the  Castle  of  San  Juan 
d'Ulloa" 

"  On  to  Mexico  City!  "  then  became  the  cry 
of  the  Americans;  and  while  the  Americans 
were  shouting  that  slogan,  Santa  Anna,  who 
had  worked  up  a  revolution  in  the  capital  and 
got  himself  elected  President,  was  making 

93 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

the  welkin  ring  with  the  cry:  "  On  to  Vera 
Cruz,  to  drive  out  the  Gringos ! " 

The  mutually  advancing  forces — the  Amer- 
icans on  their  way  to  Mexico  City,  and  the 
Mexicans  on  the  march  to  Vera  Cruz — met  at 
Cerro  Gordo,  a  strong  position  some  sixty 
miles  inland,  April  18,  1847.  After  a  stub- 
born fight  of  half  a  day's  duration,  the  Mexi- 
cans were  routed,  retiring  in  great  disorder 
toward  the  capital. 

The  forces  were,  American,  8,000;  Mexi- 
can, 14,000;  losses,  American,  439;  Mexican, 
1,200.  In  addition,  the  Mexicans  lost  forty- 
five  pieces  of  artillery,  a  vast  amount  of  am- 
munition and  3,000  prisoners,  including  five 
generals. 

PEACE  OFFER  SPURNED 

Following  the  victory  at  Cerro  Gordo, 
General  Scott  offered  the  Mexicans  peace, 
but  their  answer  was,  "  War  without  pity, 
unto  death.3' 

Resuming  their  advance,  the  Americans, 
94 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

on  May  15,  reached  Puebla,  a  city  of  80,000 
inhabitants,  where  they  remained  until  Au- 
gust 7,  awaiting  reinforcements.  Leaving 
Puebla  on  the  7th,  they  gained  the  summit 
of  the  Cordilleras  on  the  10th,  and  down  be- 
low them,  in  all  its  enchanting  beauty,  lay 
the  City  of  Mexico,  toward  which  they  began 
an  immediate  descent. 

The  City  of  Mexico,  while  not  a  walled 
town,  was  defended  by  several  formidable 
works,  which  required  capture  if  the  place 
was  to  be  entered.  Chief  among  these  forti- 
fications were  the  Hill  of  Contreras,  the  con- 
vent and  bridge  of  Churubusco,  and  the  re- 
markably strong  fortress  of  Chapultepec. 

Two  of  these — Contreras  and  Churubusco 
— were  disposed  of  on  August  20. 

The  Hill  of  Contreras,  with  its  powerful 
intrenchments,  was  defended  by  seven  thou- 
sand of  the  best  troops  in  Mexico.  It  was 
attacked  by  4,500  men  under  General  Smith, 
with  the  usual  results.  The  enemy  was  de- 
feated, with  a  loss  of  700  in  killed  and 

95 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

wounded,  800  prisoners  and  thousands  of 
small  arms.  Incredible  as  it  may  seem,  the 
American  loss  was  only  about  50. 

The  difficulty  presented  by  Churubusco 
was  negotiated  in  the  same  successful  man- 
ner. And  Churubusco  was  a  formidable  diffi- 
culty. The  fortification  was  the  thick,  high 
wall  of  a  hacienda,  forming  a  square  with  a 
stone  building  higher  than  the  wall,  and  a 
big  stone  church  with  lofty  tower,  the  whole 
combination  pierced  with  loopholes  for 
musketry. 

Outside  the  walls  were  two  fieldworks 
mounting  several  batteries  of  artillery;  while 
the  surrounding  fields  were  well  filled  with 
sharpshooters.  Assailed  by  Twiggs's  men, 
Churubusco  was  handsomely  taken,  though 
at  a  heavy  loss  to  the  American  troops. 

CITY  ALMOST  WITHIN  GRASP 

The  City  of  Mexico  was  now  almost  within 
the  grasp  of  our  army,  but  still  another  ob- 

96 


THE  CAPTURE  OF  CHAPULTEPEC 


i 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

stacle  needed  to  be  removed.  That  obstacle 
was  Chapultepec. 

Chapultepec  is  an  isolated  rocky  hill, 
crowned  by  a  massive  stone  building,  once  the 
Bishop's  palace,  but  later  on  converted  into 
a  strong  fortress,  heavily  armed  and  garri- 
soned. A  little  way  from  Chapultepec,  less 
than  half  a  mile,  was  Casa  de  Mata,  the  cita- 
del circled  with  intrenchments  and  deep,  wide 
ditches,  so  arranged  that  its  garrison  occu- 
pied two  lines  of  defense. 

At  the  very  foot  of  Chapultepec  was  Mo- 
lino  del  Rey,  a  number  of  stone  buildings 
that  had  been  used  as  a  foundry.  It  guarded 
the  only  approach  to  Chapultepec,  and  had 
been  made  as  strong  as  possible  to  protect 
that  fortress. 

On  the  morning  of  the  8th  of  September, 
at  break  of  day,  the  Americans  attacked  the 
Mata  and  Molino  del  Rey  as  preliminary  to 
the  main  assault  upon  Chapultepec,  the  grand 
objective  of  their  efforts.  Before  the  im- 
petuous charges  of  the  infantry,  assisted  by 

99 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

the  fine  work  of  the  artillery,  the  positions 
were  carried,  though  at  a  terrible  sacrifice. 

It  was  the  bloodiest  day,  for  the  invaders, 
of  the  whole  war.  Seven  hundred  and 
seventy-eight  Americans  were  killed  and 
wounded,  fifty-eight  of  them  being  officers. 

The  Mexican  loss  in  killed,  wounded  and 
prisoners  was  over  3,000. 

AMERICAN  COLORS  RAISED 

At  dawn  on  the  12th,  the  American  bat- 
teries began  pounding  Chapultepec  and  kept 
at  it  all  day.  The  next  day  two  assaulting 
columns,  each  of  250  picked  men,  selected 
from  the  divisions  of  Worth  and  Twiggs, 
bore  down,  from  opposite  directions,  upon 
the  grim  old  fortress. 

The  garrison,  realizing  the  supreme  im- 
portance of  the  position,  poured  forth  a  hail 
of  shot  and  shell  upon  the  advancing  columns, 
but  it  did  not  deter  them.  Pillow's  men  rolled 
up  the  rocky  ascent,  while  from  the  opposite 

100 


o 
U 

o 

s 

EH 


O 
O 

en 


fc 

H 
O 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

side  Quitman's  column  kept  steadily  on,  and 
by  the  help  of  scaling  ladders  the  Americans 
were  soon  inside  the  walls.  Those  of  the  gar- 
rison that  stood  their  ground  were  soon  over- 
powered, and  the  American  colors  were  soon 
flying  from  the  ramparts. 

Chapultepec  had  fallen — and  the  way  into 
the  Meccican  capital  was  at  last  open. 

On  the  13th  the  Mexican  forces  began  the 
evacuation  of  the  city,  and  by  one  o'clock 
on  the  morning  of  the  following  day  all  that 
was  left  of  Santa  Anna's  army  was  in  bivouac 
at  Guadalupe  Hidalgo. 

About  eight  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the 
14th  of  September,  General  Scott  and  staff 
rode  into  the  ancient  capital  of  the  Monte- 
zumas.  Along  the  "  Avenida  de  San  Fran- 
cisco "  he  rode  to  the  "  Plaza  de  la  Constitu- 
tion," entered  the  Palace,  ordered  the  Flag 
raised  from  its  towers,  and  the  war  was  over. 


103 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

MAGNIFICENT  RESULTS 

The  war  with  Mexico  was  fought,  on  the 
part  of  this  country,  with  less  than  a  hun- 
dred thousand  men,  a  little  over  two-thirds  of 
them  being  from  the  South,  and  much  of 
the  other  third  from  the  West.  The  num- 
ber of  volunteers  accepted  by  the  Govern- 
ment and  engaged  in  the  service  of  the  United 
States  was  56,926.  The  number  of  regular 
troops  was  26,400.  The  number  of  naval 
forces,  teamsters  and  others  was  13,000,  mak- 
ing all  told  96,500  men. 

The  number  of  men  engaged  on  the  Mexi- 
can side  was  never  known  with  accuracy,  but 
we  have  data  from  which  to  infer  that  it  could 
not  have  been  less  than  125,000. 

The  infantry  on  both  sides  was  equipped 
with  the  old  smooth  bore  flint-lock  musket, 
high  military  authorities  not  being  yet  per- 
suaded of  the  advantages  of  percussion  locks. 
The  mounted  men  of  both  armies  were  what 
were  then  known  as  "  light "  cavalry  or 

104 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

"  dragoons,"  armed  with  saber  and  carbine. 
The  larger  part  of  the  Mexican  cavalry  car- 
ried the  lance  in  addition  to  the  other  arms. 
In  artillery  the  Mexicans  were  at  a  disad- 
vantage in  comparison  with  the  Americans, 
their  guns  being  of  the  even  then  antiquated 
"  Gribeauxel "  type  of  various  calibers  and 
mounted  on  heavy,  rough  wheels. 

The  mortality  of  the  American  troops  in 
actual  battle  was  small,  about  5,000,  but  the 
deaths  from  wounds  and  sickness  made  the 
total  loss  in  excess  of  22,000.  The  malarial 
fevers  killed  four  times  as  many  as  the  Mexi- 
can bullets. 

The  battle  losses  on  the  side  of  Mexico  will 
never  be  known.  With  characteristic  care- 
lessness, they  never  tabulated  their  casualties. 
But  their  actual  killed  in  battle  must  have 
equaled  our  entire  death  list — that  is,  22,000 
—to  say  nothing  of  the  deaths  from  other 
causes.  It  has  been  estimated  that  the  total 
Mexican  mortality,  actual  killed,  died  of 
wounds,  starvation  and  sickness,  was  about 

107 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

50,000  men — more  than  double  that  of  the 
Americans. 

Military  circles  the  world  over  have  not  as 
yet  ceased  to  wonder  at  the  fact  that  the  Mex- 
jcans,  in  their  struggle  with  the  Americans, 
failed  to  win  a  single  battle.  Not  once  did 
they  get  a  taste  of  victory.  The  Americans 
won  every  fight,  and  in  most  cases  won  over- 
whelmingly. 

This  is  all  the  more  remarkable  from  the 
fact  that  the  Mexicans  invariably  had  the  ad- 
vantage in  position  and  numbers.  The  Amer- 
icans were  always  the  attacking  party,  and 
aways  the  numerical  odds  were  greatly 
against  them.  The  odds  against  them  were 
often  five  to  one.  At  Palo  Alto  they  were 
three  to  one,  and  the  same  at  Resaca  de 
la  Palma;  at  Monterey,  two  to  one;  at  Buena 
Vista,  four  to  one;  at  Sacramento,  the  same; 
at  Sierra  Gordo,  two  to  one;  and  in  the  final 
battles  around  the  City  of  Mexico  the  ratio 
was  around  three  to  five  to  one  in  favor  of 
the  Mexicans. 

108 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

The  mystery  is  only  intensified  by  the  fact, 
admitted  by  all,  that  the  Mexicans  had  plenty 
of  courage  and  stood  up  to  their  work  like 
men,  and  yet  they  were  always  beaten,  and 
beaten  ignominiously. 

The  only  explanation  is  to  be  found  in  the 
American  superiority  in  sense,  coolness  and 
moral  courage.  The  Americans  never  lost 
their  heads,  kept  cool,  and  shot,  not  into  the 
air  but  straight  at  the  enemy. 

The  war  with  Mexico  cost  the  United 
States,  in  money  actually  paid  out,  $100,000,- 
000.  Additional  to  this  was  the  cost  of  the  re- 
turn of  the  troops,  extra  pay  and  bounties, 
amounting  to  $12,500,000 — to  say  nothing  of 
the  pensions  which,  beginning  with  the  close 
of  the  war,  ran  on  for  half  a  century. 

If  we  reckon  in  the  $3,000,000  paid  by  way 
of  claims  against  us  by  Mexican  citizens  and 
the  $15,000,000  paid  for  the  ceded  territory, 
we  have,  as  the  grand  total  of  cost  to  us  of 
the  Mexican  War,  $130,000,000. 

But  even  this,  for  the  time,  enormous  sum 
109 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

was  a  mere  trifle  in  comparison  with  the  im- 
mense gain  that  came  to  us  by  way  of  war. 

By  the  terms  of  the  Treaty  of  Guadalupe 
Hidalgo,  signed  February  2,  1848,  the  Ameri- 
can people  came  into  possession  of  a  territory 
equal  in  extent  to  855,000  square  miles, 
equivalent  to  seventeen  States  the  size  of 
New  York. 

The  territory  thus  acquired  included  ten 
degrees  of  latitude  on  the  Pacific,  and  ex- 
tended east  to  the  Rio  Grande,  a  distance  of 
one  thousand  miles.  Five  thousand  miles 
of  sea  coast  were  added  to  the  United  States, 
including  the  finest  of  harbors,  that  behind 
the  "  Golden  Gate,"  where  the  navies  of  all 
the  nations  might  be  sheltered  at  once. 

California  alone  was  worth  many  times  the 
cost  of  the  Mexican  War.  To  say  nothing 
of  anything  else,  its  gold  has  already  put  into 
the  pockets  of  the  American  people  a  great 
deal  more  money  than  they  paid  out  in  fight- 
ing Mexico. 

To  say  nothing  about  Texas,  the  present 
110 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

wealth,  in  real  estate  and  personal  property, 
of  the  territory  won  by  the  war  with  Mex- 
ico— that  is  to  say,  of  Utah,  Arizona,  Ne- 
vada, New  Mexico,  the  half  of  Colorado,  the 
southwest  corner  of  Kansas  and  California — 
aggregates  over  $3,000,000,000— THREE 
THOUSAND  MILLION  DOLLARS— a 
result  that  amply  justifies  the  expenditure  of 
$130,000,000  in  1846-47. 

And  it  should  not  be  overlooked  that  the 
great  States  mentioned  are  but  just  begin- 
ning their  career.  Irrigation  and  the  "  dry 
farming"  idea  will  eventually  make  the  re- 
gion which  in  the  forties  was  known  as  the 
"  Great  American  Desert "  blossom  like  a 
tropical  garden  and  teem  with  every  con- 
ceivable form  of  agricultural  and  horticul- 
tural wealth. 

As  for  California,  the  "Italy  of  North 
America,"  its  future  is  splendid  beyond  calcu- 
lation. Already  rich,  its  potential  wealth  is 
such  that  the  rosiest  predictions  might  be 
more  than  fulfilled  in  the  result. 

Ill 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

In  this  connection  it  ought  to  be  said 
that  had  Jefferson  Davis  had  his  way  the 
boundary  line  of  the  United  States  would 
have  been  fixed  much  further  south  than  it 
was.  Davis,  with  Houston,  Dickinson,  of 
New  York;  Douglas,  of  Illinois;  Hannegan, 
of  Indiana,  and  one  of  the  Ohio  Senators, 
wanted  the  boundary  so  fixed  as  to  include 
the  State  of  Tamaulipas  and  Nuevo  Leon, 
the  whole  of  Coahuila  and  the  greater  part 
of  Chihuahua,  but  he  was  beaten  by  Calhoun, 
Benton,  Herschel  V.  Johnson,  Lewis  Cass, 
of  Michigan,  and  Mason,  of  Virginia.  The 
United  States  has  the  same  right  to  those 
States  that  it  had  to  the  rest,  and  had  Davis 
been  successful  the  northern  half  of  Mexico, 
instead  of  being  what  it  is — the  breeding 
ground  of  revolutions  and  conspiracies  and 
the  theater  of  never-ending  misery — would 
to-day  be  like  California  and  the  rest  of  the 
territory  that  came  in  along  with  it — rich, 
peaceful,  happy;  integral  parts  of  the  great, 
progressive  republic. 

112 


Present  Mexican  Question 


THE   PRESENT  MEXICAN 
QUESTION 

THE  INFLUENCE  OF  RACIAL  DIFFERENCES 

IT  has  been  shown  that  among  the  various 
things  leading  up  to  the  clash  of  arms  was 
the  racial  difference  between  the  peoples  of 
the  two  Countries,  the  distinction  in  breed  and 
blood,  in  temperament  and  morality.  Oc- 
cupying different  parts  of  the  same  conti- 
nent, and  without  any  great  natural  bar- 
riers in  the  boundary  lines  between  them,  it 
was  inevitable  that  between  the  Latin  and  the 
Saxon  disputes  should  arise,  misunderstand- 
ings, and  eventually  war. 

That  blood  is  thicker  than  water,  and  that 
it  is  wonderfully  tenacious  and  persistent, 
is  being  mightily  corroborated  in  the  hap- 
penings of  these  present  days.  In  the  light 
of  current  events  it  is  clearly  to  be  seen  that 

117 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

the  Mexicans  of  the  year  1914  are  just  like  the 
Mexicans  of  the  year  1846,  and  it  is  equally 
clear  that  in  many  respects  the  Mexicans  of 
1846  were  just  like  the  Spaniards  of  Cortez, 
who,  in  1519,  wrote  their  story  of  blood,  cru- 
elty and  insincerity  in  Mexico.  The  real 
Mexicans,  so  far  as  this  history  goes,  are  not 
the  aborigines,  the  native  Indians  found  by 
the  Spanish  conquerors,  but  the  Spaniards 
themselves,  and  their  descendants,  who,  from 
the  time  of  their  coming  right  down  to  the 
present,  have  been  responsible  for  whatever 
has  happened  in  Mexico. 

A  single  historical  incident  will  serve  to 
show  that  four  centuries  have  not  changed 
the  blood  and  breed  and  that  the  descendants 
of  the  conquerors  are  almost  precisely  what 
their  ancestors  were.  Pizarro  received  from 
the  Inca  Atahualpa  $5,000,000  in  gold  on  the 
strength  of  the  solemn  promise  that  the  Inca's 
life  should  be  spared,  a  promise  that  he  never 
intended  to  keep,  and  that  was  broken  as  soon 
as  he  got  the  gold. 

118 


PORFIRIO  DIAZ 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

Did  we  not  have  in  Santa  Anna  a  perfect 
replica  of  Pizarro;  and  in  Huerta,  Villa 
and  Carranza,  have  we  not  striking  repro- 
ductions of  Santa  Anna,  the  cruel,  crafty, 
unscrupulous  characte"  who  stopped  at  noth- 
ing that  would  furthe  his  designs;  who  wrote 
to  one  of  his  Gene:  "s  just  before  the  out- 
break of  the  War  a6ainst  Texas,  "  You  un- 
derstand that  in  this  var  there  are  to  be  no 
prisoners " ;  and  who  treated  the  immortal 
heroes  of  the  Alamo  precisely  as  Pizarro 
treated  the  Inca  and  his  people? 

Well,  because  breed  persists,  the  people  of 
the  United  States  ha^  the  same  troubles  with 
the  Mexicans  after  the  War  of  1846-47  that 
they  had  had  before ;  and  the  troubles  reached 
right  down  to  the  ear  1876,  when  Porfirio 
Diaz  took  hold  of  *  e  bankrupt  and  demor- 
alized wreckage  o>  a  half-century  of  civil 
war  and  made  a  nation  out  of  it.  From  1876 
till  1910  Diaz  was  Mexico.  He  put  his  foot 
down  upon  Civil  War  and  kept  it  down.  He 
made  the  Mexican  people  behave.  He  made 

121 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

them  respect  the  constituted  authorities.  His 
reputation  as  a  fighter  was  unquestioned,  the 
people  knew  what  Diaz  could  do,  and  they 
dared  not  invite  his  anger. 

With  the  peace-plank  securely  settled,  Mex- 
ico began  to  prosper,  life  and  property  were 
reasonably  safe.  "  Look  after  your  own  in- 
terests," said  he  to  the  people;  "  I  will  attend 
to  the  running  of  the  country.  Develop  your 
industries.  Don't  bother  about  politics.  I 
will  look  after  that  part  of  it."  And  so 
for  a  full  generation  the  "  Man  of  Iron " 
ruled  Mexico,  and  in  the  main  all  was 
well. 

But  it  is  the  prerogative  of  age  to  be  shaky. 
Most  of  the  great,  the  daring  things  have 
been  done  by  young  men,  or  by  men  in  the 
rugged  prime  of  body  and  mind.  Except 
in  very  rare  cases,  age  paralyzes  the  will,  de- 
stroys initiative  and  cripples  the  gaudium 
certaminis  that  is  so  essential  to  the  holding 
of  a  commanding  position  among  one's 
fellow-men. 

122 


VlCTORIANA    HUERTA 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

Along  came  Francesco  Madero,  astute,  a 
"  good  fellow "  among  his  countrymen,  an 
aristocrat,  rich,  but  charmingly  democratic 
in  his  ways.  Madero  caught  the  ears  of  the 
groundlings,  captured  the  good-will  and  con- 
fidence of  the  Peons  and  it  was  apparent  to 
all — to  Diaz  more  clearly  than  to  anyone  else 
— that  the  young  man  had  a  Presidential  bee 
in  his  bonnet. 

The  old  man  who  had  reigned  for  so  long 
clapped  the  young  man  into  jail — and  for  a 
wonder  Madero  got  out  of  prison  alive, 
skipped  across  the  line  into  Texas  and  from 
San  Antonio,  the  old  city  of  the  Alamo, 
started  a  revolution.  Higher  and  higher  rose 
the  waters  of  revolt.  Every  day  Madero 
gained  prestige  and  the  old  "  Man  of  Iron  " 
lost  it.  Blacker  and  heavier  grew  the  po- 
litical storm-clouds — and,  trembling  at  the 
prospect  of  the  coming  tempest,  Porfirio 
Diaz  fled  the  country.  In  due  course  of  time 
Madero  became  President. 

But  Madero  was  not  Diaz.  His  was  not 
125 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

the  hand  of  steel.  Good  fellows  do  not,  as 
a  rule,  make  successful  Dictators  in  the 
midst  of  an  ignorant  and  morally  immature 
people — and  anarchy  and  misrule  began  again 
to  lift  their  heads. 

Along  the  border,  and  throughout  the 
country,  wherever  Mexicans  came  in  con- 
tact with  Americans  and  other  non-Mexican 
residents,  there  was  friction;  business  became 
unsettled;  investments  began  to  be  insecure, 
the  condition  of  things  that  Diaz  put  down, 
and  kept  down  for  thirty-five  years,  began 
to  show  itself  again. 

A  few  dates  are  essential  here.  Porfirio 
Diaz  was  "  elected  "  for  the  last  time  July 
26,  1910.  Madero's  revolution  broke  out 
about  February  18,  1910,  a  few  months  after 
his  miraculous  escape  from  prison.  Diaz  re- 
signed the  Presidency  May  25,  1911.  Ma- 
dero  assumed  the  office  October  8,  1911. 
Madero  was  assassinated  February  23, 
1913. 

From  the  inception  of  the  revolution  to 
126 


FRANCESCO  MADERO 


Our  Meooican  Conflicts 

Madero's  death — a  period  of  two  years  and 
three  months — Mexico  was  in  a  state  of  chaos, 
and  any  other  people  than  those  of  the  United 
States  would  have  gone  into  the  country  with 
the  strong  arm  of  the  military  and  put  an 
end  to  the  bloody  and  world-disturbing  farce. 
In  spite  of  the  good  intentions  of  Madero, 
the  lives  and  property  of  Americans  and  Eu- 
ropeans were  in  perpetual  jeopardy,  and  al- 
most every  day  things  occurred  that  shocked 
the  world,  culminating  in  the  foul  murder 
of  Madero  and  the  unspeakably  infamous 
regime  of  Huerta. 

It  is  with  Huerta  that  we  must  deal  next 
— Huerta,  the  strange  compound  of  lago, 
Caliban  and  Genghis  Khan. 

HUERTA'S  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

The  characterization  of  the  Mexican  Dic- 
tator as  being  a  combination  of  cruelty,  brut- 
ishness  and  heartless  cunning  is  not  a  whit 
too  strong.  To  put  it  as  mildly  as  is  pos- 

129 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

sible,  it  must  be  said  that  he  is  beyond  doubt 
one  of  the  worst  men  that  have  ever  figured 
upon  the  stage  of  history. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  his  monster 
crime — the  assassination  of  Madero — was 
committed  in  the  second  decade  of  the  Twen- 
tieth Century,  and  in  bold  and  brazen  de- 
fiance of  the  latest  and  finest  humanity  of 
the  ages.  With  the  nonchalance  of  a  Corsair, 
he  mopped  up  the  blood  of  the  kindest- 
hearted  man  that  had  ever  occupied  the  chair 
of  the  Mexican  Presidency  and  deliberately 
threw  the  gory  clout  square  into  the  face  of 
the  noblest  sentiment  of  the  day. 

All  things  considered,  that  crime  of  Feb- 
ruary 23,  1913,  is  without  a  parallel  in  his- 
tory, and  were  there  a  Shakespeare  in  our 
midst  he  would  put  it  into  a  drama  that  would 
make  "  Macbeth  "  look  as  tame  as  a  Sunday- 
school  essay,  or  one  of  Mr.  Bryan's  Chau- 
tauqua  addresses. 

Not  only  was  that  crime  committed — de- 
liberately, coolly,  with  malice  aforethought — 

130 


Our  Meocican  Conflicts 

but  at  his  order  the  assassin's  court  declared 
that  it  was  all  right,  and  that  their  Master 
was  one  of  the  noblest  benefactors  of  their 
country  and  of  the  human  race. 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  United 
States  Government  stoutly  and  persistently 
refused  to  give  official  recognition  to  this 
twentieth  century  barbarian.  Is  it  any  won- 
der that  the  land  of  Washington  should  re- 
fuse -to  officially  shake  hands,  in  the  person 
of  its  President,  with  the  man  who  was  so 
brutally  defiant  to  all  the  things  that  Wash- 
ington stood  for  and  loved? 

Nor  must  it  be  forgotten  that  the  Mex- 
ican people  themselves  refused  to  recognize 
Huerta.  In  the  more  progressive  and  en- 
lightened North  and  Northwest  the  people 
were  ashamed  of  him  and  of  his  unblushing 
crimes,  and  willingly  followed  the  lead  of 
those  who  would  put  him  down. 

It  is  true  that  Villa  and  Carranza  are  far 
from  being  ideal  leaders;  it  is  true  that  there 
is  blood,  and  unrighteous  blood,  too,  upon 

133 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

their  hands  also;  but  they  are  a  shade  less 
villainous  than  Huerta. 

In  Milton's  immortal  poem,  "  Satan/'  view- 
ing the  wreck  that  his  unholy  ambition  had 
made,  exclaimed,  "  Evil,  be  thou  my  good," 
and  that  is  what  Huerta  has  said  down  in 
the  land  of  the  Montezumas.  He  has  cre- 
ated a  hell  there,  and  solemnly  dedicated  him- 
self to  its  perpetuation.  He  has  raised  the 
black  flag  against  humanity,  and  sworn  that 
his  highest  joy  shall  consist  in  flouting  its 
finest  sentiment  and  outraging  its  noblest 
instincts.  He  has  said  to  himself,  "  Evil,  be 
thou  my  good." 

Perhaps  there  is  no  other  place  on  earth 
where  human  life  is  so  cheap,  or  human  ex- 
istence so  wretched,  as  in  Mexico  to-day  un- 
der the  monstrous  dictatorship  of  Victoriana 
Huerta.  No  man  is  sure  of  his  life  from 
day  to  day,  or  from  hour  to  hour.  The  set- 
tled order  that  is  supposed  to  be  found  in 
civilized  communities,  and  that  certainly 
should  be  found  on  the  North  American 

134 


s 

99 

D 

o 

H 


o 
go 

•5       M 

ll 

O3      Jg 

I  2 

g  a 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

Continent  and  in  close  proximity  to  the 
United  States  of  America,  has  departed,  and 
instead  of  well-grounded  peace,  industry  and 
progress  there  are  constant  unrest,  uncer- 
tainty and  confusion. 

The  wealth  of  Mexico  is  in  its  mines,  fruit- 
eries  and  cattle  ranches,  but  these  are  utterly 
demoralized.  Industry  of  every  form  is  para- 
lyzed. The  richest  country  of  the  whole  earth 
in  natural  resources  is  producing  nothing. 
American  and  European  capital  no  longer 
goes  into  Mexico;  and  millions  of  dollars 
invested  in  the  country  might  as  well  be  at 
the  bottom  of  the  sea.  They  bring  no  re- 
turns, and  what  is  more,  they  never  will, 
since  the  very  plants  themselves  have  been 
deliberately  destroyed  or  confiscated,  or  per- 
mitted to  go  to  wreck  and  ruin. 

These  are  some  of  the  things,  therefore, 
that  the  people  of  the  United  States  have 
against  the  Mexicans  in  general,  and  Victo- 
riana  Huerta  in  particular.  Huerta  must 
go.  His  presence  at  the  head  of  the  so- 

137 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

called  Mexican  government  is  worse  than  a 
farce — it  is  a  monstrosity  and  a  menace. 
Says  one  who  has  studied  the  situation  at 
close  range: 

"  He  cooked  the  elections  so  that  he  might 
be  returned  as  President,  although  he 
had  not  offered  himself  as  a  candidate. 
His  plan  was  that  the  new  Congress,  consist- 
ing, for  the  most  part,  of  his  relatives  and 
supporters,  should  declare  the  election  void, 
but  ask  him  to  remain  in  office  until  the  coun- 
try could  be  sufficiently  *  Pacified  '  for  a  first 
choice  to  be  made.  I  am  assured  that  he 
confided  to  a  friend  that  no  election  would 
be  possible  for  a  long  time,  and  that  he  then 
counted  upon  being  elected  President  him- 
self. That  was  in  an  expansive  mood,  how- 
ever. As  a  rule,  he  confides  in  nobody.  Even 
his  Ministers  are  kept  in  ignorance  of  what 
his  next  move  is  to  be.  He  summons  them 
suddenly,  sometimes  in  the  early  hours  of  the 
morning,  and  tells  them  what  they  are  to 
do.  If  they  argue  they  are  dismissed.  Senor 

138 


Our  Meocican  Conflicts 

Garza  Aldape  advised  him  to  resign,  and 
pointed  out  that  the  meeting  of  Congress 
would  be  illegal.  He  was  not  only  deprived 
of  his  office,  but  packed  off,  at  less  than 
twelve  hours'  notice,  to  France." 

It  is  clearly  the  sense  of  the  American  peo- 
ple that  any  "  Mediation "  with  Huerta  is 
out  of  place;  that  even  the  thought  of  it  is 
absurd  and  intolerable;  and  that  the  only 
thing  to  do  is  not  to  mediate  with  him,  but 
to  oust  him — and  to  oust  him  at  once.  He 
stands  in  the  way  of  any  successful  settle- 
ment of  the  Mexican  difficulty,  and  not  until 
he  is  put  out  of  the  way  can  even  the  begin- 
ning of  such  settlement  be  made. 

OUR  DUTY  TO  MANKIND,  TO  MEXICO  AND 
TO  OURSELVES 

We  come  now  to  the  memorable  incident  of 
the  9th  of  April,  1914,  which  is  best  told  in 
the  concise  and  straightforward  dispatch  to 
the  New  York  American,  from  Mexico  City: 

141 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

"  Mexico  City,  April  10. — The  paymaster 
and  a  detachment  of  marines  from  the  United 
States  gunboat  Dolphin  were  arrested  yes- 
terday by  a  Mexican  officer  at  Tampico, 
marched  through  the  streets  and,  after  being 
held  for  a  time,  were  reJF'^.d  on  the  demand 
of  Rear- Admiral  Mayo.' 

The  launch  from  the  /v'7>"- 

1 
paymaster  and  the  small  «. 

rines  had  put  in  at  Iturbide  Jbi,. 
pico,  to  obtain  a  supply  of  gasoline. 
wore  the  uniform  of  the  ~'iited  States  Navy, 
but  were  unarmed.    Above  J;he  launch  floated 

^m 

the  American  flag. 

Here  was  a  real  situation,  one  that  occurs 
but  seldom  in  the  life  o*  any  Nation.  The 
flag  of  the  greatest  natio*  ™*«.earth  had  been 
grossly  insulted.  The  honor  o±  S*  nation 
had  received  the  rudest  possible  affront, 
flag  of  a  nation  is  a  natio 
that  stands  for  its  p 
moral  and  political  integrity  a.,. 
to  insult  the  flag  is  to  ins 

142 


H 
CI2 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

It  is  worse  than  false,  it  is  arrant  nonsense 
and  drivel,  to  say,  as  some  do,  that  the  flag 
is  simply  a  piece  of  bunting,  a  mere  rag  bear- 
ing a  few  legends,  and  that  it  cannot  be  pos- 
sible to  insult  such  insensate  things.  Such 
talk  comes  only  from  fools  or  traitors.  It 
is  never  heard  from  the  lips  of  a  sensible 
man  or  a  patriot. 

The  flag  is  indeed  a  piece  of  bunting,  but 
it  is  a  piece  of  bunting  that  heralds  forth 
and  stands  for  the  majesty  and  self-respect 
of  the  nation  in  whose  name  it  flies ;  and  it  is 
impossible  to  lose  your  respect  for  and  inter- 
est in  the  flag,  without  at  the  same  time  losing 
your  respect  for  and  interest  in  the  nation. 

WHen  Huerta's  Government  insulted  the 
United  States  flag  at  Tampico,  it  was  an  in- 
sult to  every  one  of  the  hundred  million 
American  people.  When  his  minions,  disre- 
garding the  flag  that  flew  above  the  launch 
at  Tampico,  laid  hands  on  our  paymaster 
and  marines,  and  paraded  them,  under  ar- 
rest, through  the  streets  of  the  Mexican  town, 

145 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

he  committed  the  affront  against  our  country 
that  sent  the  flush  of  indignation  to  the  face 
of  every  patriotic  American.  Nor  was  that 
flush  the  sign  of  criminal  hate  or  barbaric 
anger:  it  was  the  token  of  the  highest  and 
holiest  feeling  that  can  thrill  the  heart  of 
man — a  protest  against  the  humiliation  of  his 
country  in  the  eyes  of  the  world. 

Of  course,  the  United  States  Government, 
immediately  upon  being  informed  of  the  Tam- 
pico  incident,  demanded  an  apology  in  the 
shape  of  a  salute  to  the  flag  that  had  been 
so  wantonly  and  unjustifiably  insulted.  And 
what  happened?  Was  the  salute  forthcom- 
ing? Did  the  guns  of  the  Government  that 
had  insulted  the  flag  sound  forth  the  amende 
honorable?  Not  at  all.  Instead,  the  insult 
was  only  repeated  by  the  impudent  proposi- 
tion from  Huerta  that  he  would  "  consent " 
to  the  giving  of  the  salute  demanded  by  our 
Government  if  the  Government  would  either 
simultaneously  or  immediately  thereafter  re- 
turn the  honors  by  saluting  the  Mexican  flag. 

146 


EH 

CJ 
O 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

Did  impudent  audacity  ever  mount  higher? 
In  all  the  stories  of  all  the  nations  is  there 
to  be  found  another  case  of  such  superlative 
insolence  ? 

For  days  the  insolent  Mexican  Dictator 
played  with  the  Administration  at  Washing- 
ton as  the  cat  plays  with  the  mouse.  There 
was  an  infinitude  of  dilly-dallying,  attended 
by  no  end  of  "  watchful  waiting,"  and  then, 
when  it  was  evident  to  all  that  the  patience  of 
the  American  people  was  about  exhausted, 
away  went  the  battleships,  Vera  Cruz  was  cap- 
tured, at  the  expense  of  the  lives  of  several  of 
our  Sailor  boys,  and  the  forces  of  the  United 
States  were  at  last  fairly  planted  upon  the 
soil  of  the  nation  that  had  so  long  tried  us. 

Following  hard  after  the  American  occu- 
pation of  Vera  Cruz  came  the  preparations 
for  the  mobilizing  of  the  army.  Recruiting 
began.  General  Funston  was  sent  with  a 
portion  of  the  Regular  Army  to  prepare  for 
the  march  to  Mexico  City.  The  Red  Cross 
was  ready  to  embark  for  its  work  in  the  field. 

149 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

Everybody  said:  "At  last  the  provocations 
of  generations,  the  misrule,  cruelty  and  wrong 
of  three-quarters  of  a  century  are  about  to 
have  their  ending." 

But  the  course  of  true  justice,  like  that 
of  true  love,  does  not  always  run  smooth, 
and  the  stream  of  events  was  suddenly  turned 
out  of  its  channel  by  a  proposition  from  the 
"  A.  B.  C."  Company  down  in  South  Amer- 
ica. Argentina,  Brazil  and  Chili  asked  our 
President  to  let  them  try  to  settle  the  diffi- 
culty— and  the  President,  accepting  the  A.  B. 
C.  suggestion,  resumed  the  old  attitude  of 
"  watchful  waiting." 

Waiting  for  what?  To  see  if  we  cannot 
avoid  going  to  war.  Mr.  Bryan,  with  the 
Dove  of  Peace  on  his  shoulder  and  a  glass 
of  grape-juice  by  his  side,  dreaming  covet- 
ously of  the  Nobel  Prize,  is  trembling  lest  we 
should  come  to  blows  with  Mexico,  and  Mr. 
Carnegie  is  so  afraid  that  somebody  may  get 
hurt  that  he  can  only  with  the  greatest  diffi- 
culty contain  himself. 

150 


cj 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

But  war,  bad  as  it  is,  is  not  the  worst 
thing  in  the  world.  All  the  world  would  be 
like  Mexico  to-day  but  for  war.  War  has 
been  the  great  civilizer  and  preserver  of  civ- 
ilization. But  for  war  we  would  be  British 
subjects  right  now.  But  for  war  the  oases 
of  light  and  progress  in  the  ancient  world 
would  have  been  swallowed  up  in  the  great 
ocean  of  barbarism.  It  was  war,  carried 
on  by  the  legions  of  Rome,  that  civilized  Eu- 
rope, that  supplanted  ignorance  and  brute 
force  by  culture  and  humanity,  and  it  was 
war  again,  waged  by  the  Northern  peoples, 
that  swept  Rome  out  of  the  way  after  she 
had  become  a  pestiferous  mass  of  corrup- 
tion, thus  saving  civilization  for  the  second 
time. 

But  for  war  it  would  not  be  possible  for 
any  man  to  think,  speak,  write  or  live,  except 
in  the  way  prescribed  for  him  by  tyrannical 
authority. 

War,  or  no  war,  however,  the  judgment  of 
history  is  that  now  that  we  are  in  Mexico  it 

153 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

is  our  duty,  to  ourselves,  to  the  Mexicans  and 
to  the  rest  of  mankind,  to  stay  there.  If 
Mexico  is  ever  to  be  raised  from  the  "  dead 
level  to  the  living  perpendicular,"  the  lifting 
must  be  done  by  some  other  hand  than  her 
own.  The  most  beautiful  of  the  lands  of  the 
earth,  it  seems  a  pity  and  a  shame  that  Mex- 
ico cannot  be  the  abode  of  peace  and  plenty, 
of  happiness  and  universal  good-will,  and 
this  can  be  brought  about  by  the  United 
States,  and  by  the  United  States  only.  There 
are  one  or  two  other  nations  that  might  do 
it,  but  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  which  we  must 
maintain  inviolate,  stands  in  the  way  of  their 
performing  the  task;  and  it  falls  to  us 
to  bring  about  the  devoutly-to-be-wished-for 
consummation. 

Is  the  Mexican  anarchy  to  be  eternal? 
Must  the  beautiful  land  forever  lie  waste? 
Must  the  throat-cutting  go  on  perpetually? 
Is  there  no  balm  in  Gilead?  Must  the  sun, 
for  ages  upon  ages,  keep  on  rising  and  set- 
ting upon  ruins  and  death? 

154 


ft 
O 

I 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

Then  the  United  States,  now  that  her 
foot  is  planted  upon  the  soil  of  the  glorious 
but  long  grief-ridden  land,  must  never  re- 
move it.  There  must  not  only  be  war — if 
it  is  necessary — but  the  war  must  be  fol- 
lowed by  a  permanent  American  occupancy. 
It  is  the  only  wise  and  efficient  way  out  of 
the  difficulty. 

What  the  Mexicans  used  to  be  they  are 
to-day,  and  what  they  are  to-day  they  will 
unquestionably  be  a  hundred  or  a  thousand 
years  from  now — if  left  to  themselves. 

If  they  are  straightened  out  by  the  United 
States,  and  left  again  to  their  own  initiative, 
the  same  old  Mexicans  will  begin  again  the 
same  old  game  of  revolution  and  ruin.  It 
is  as  certain  as  anything  can  be  that  such 
will  be  the  case.  Take  away  the  pressure 
of  the  strong  hand,  and  up  will  bob  the  old 
insurrections,  the  old  carnivals  of  blood  and 
death.  The  Americans  away,  and  the  specter 
of  ruin  will  resume  its  appalling  flight  over 
the  land,  and  in  place  of  the  happy  laughter 

157 


Our  Mexican  Conflicts 

of  little  children,  and  the  hum  of  contented 
industry,  and  the  happiness  of  settled  order, 
would  be  heard  again  the  lamentations  of 
those  whom  none  will  be  able  to  comfort. 

The  flag  is  planted  in  Mexico,  and  there 
let  it  stay.  To  take  it  down  would  be  the 
master  crime  of  the  Ages. 


158 


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